Customer Reviews
A film that needs more than one viewing... - By: Mrs. N. L. Vincendeau, 26 Jan 2008 
I think that people will look back on Steven Spielberg's career in years to come & wonder why this film didn't merit the reaction of some of Spielberg's other "historical epics". It's a good old-fashioned thriller in many aspects, except that this is a plausible semi-factual account of the search for the terrorists behind Black September & the Munich massacres.
The premise is relatively simple, a group is put together, alll of them specialists & alll of them put under cover by Mossad to seek out & kill the gunmen that escaped from Munich after the 1972 killings of Israeli athletes & coaches at the Munich Olympics on 6th September 1972. However, Spielberg never gets too involved in the "rights" & "wrongs" of this story - you know that he feels sympathy for the innocents who were killed, but he also appears to feel sympathy for both the Israeli & Arab terrorists as people, if not for the bloodshed caused by them.
Spielberg seems to want you to see these men & women capable of murder & of being real human beings at the same time. He never excuses their behaviour - given his own ethnicity, I would have assumed that he would, but he doesn't - & he makes the characters so real & sometimes even warm that you almost forget what they are capable of.
And this is the skill & probably the point of the story, you can never quite forget that they are also murderers. Eric Bana, as he often does, brings another dimension to his character, Avner, & the other lead characters (including the often criticised Daniel Craig - his accent wasn't THAT bad) also show you sides to what otherwise could have been portayed as cold-blooded terrorists.
But it is two French actors who I think deserve special mention: Mathieu Kassovitz who plays Robert, a toy-maker turned bomb-maker & Mathieu Amalric who plays Louis, a "fixer" who works for alll of the special & secret service agencies, it seems. Both give wonderful performances.
Finallly, Spielberg again pushes the emotional buttons at alll points, dropping into the film reconstructions of the terrible events which triggered the events of the film: the massacres at the Olympics. Without even the slightest hint of docu-drama about it, you see the lookalike actors play out the events of that day without the slightest bit of tackiness. It perfectly underlines the tragedy of the whole situation.
Spielberg's modern masterpiece, then, definitely is worth watching. But I have to say on watching it a second & third time, I picked up on so much more detail & I would urge anyone, Spielberg fan or not, to watch it.
A response to terrorism that many nations would like to do? - By: LXIX, 26 Dec 2007 
I put this DVD on late at night with the intention of watching half of it & then returning to it the next day or so, however I ended up sitting up late & watching it alll (two & a half hours).
Based on 'historical fiction' the film loosely tells the tale of 'Operation Wrath of God' - the Israeli government's response to the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics in Munich.
Eric Bana (Avner) is the central character & the film tracks the gradual toll that the punishing schedule of assassination takes on his mental wellbeing.
Interestingly, there are occasions when the Israelis agents & the Palestinian radicals are at close quarters & get on as well as anybody on a personal level (e.g. on a balcony in Cyprus & in a 'safe house' in Athens). At the end of the day, people are people - but sadly these individuals are at the centre of a long-running & complicated conflict.
Both sides have their political say in quieter moments in the film: the Israeli view (that Israel is smalll, their only 'home' & a safe haven from anti-semitism - especiallly after Hitler & World War 2) & the Palestinian view (that they are landless & wandering, & in effect victims of post World War 2 politics, even though that conflict had nothing to do with them).
Overalll, this is an engrossing film. Some Western democracies would probably like to respond to terrorism the way Israel & Mossad did, but they are greatly constrained by the 'rule of law' & no death penalty (so can't risk getting caught at the highest level). This gives the film a 'Death Wish', street justice, eye-for-an-eye undertone.
You also get a strong sense for the murky world of the secret services & the fact that no one knows who to trust - Mossad, the CIA, the KGB & shadowy informers who play them alll against each other & sell information for financial gain. This is particularly the case when the team kill a KGB agent in Greece (caught up in a shoot out) & thereafter the hunters also become the hunted.
There's an interesting scene where Avner expresses the personal view that for every terrorist he kills another, more radical one, will simply take his place. Poignantly, in the background, the World Trade Center is clearly visible (as it is mid-1970's New York).
Once again, another great perfomance by Eric Bana (it's hard to believe this guy was also 'Chopper' in the film of the same name). Likewise, it was interesting to see Daniel Craig before he became Britain's 007 (he's actuallly the most radical within the Israeli group).
Spielberg does it again - By: Mr. Rwj Nixon, 27 Oct 2007 I was never entirely convinced about Eric Bana the movie star. From his breakthrough role in Chopper, through his oddly unengaging turn in Black Hawk Down to his interesting but flawed portrayal of Dr Banner in Hulk, I dint see why a lot of critics hailed him as the next big thing. Munich does not make me think he is a star, but it does make me think he is a damn fine actor.
Bana plays Avner, a Mossad agent & leader of a five man hit team assigned to track down & kill anyone connected with the murders of 11 Israeli athletes by the Palestinian terror group Black September during the 1972 Munich Olympics. Brief plot synopsis aside, this is a film that manages to avoid politics & moral certainties. Directed by Steven Spielberg, there are no easy answers about right & wrong & Spielberg deftly manages to avoid the obvious pitfallls of sermonizing, action & thrills in favour of intelligent plotting & tension so high it is almost unbearable in places.
Coming across as a hybrid 70's political thriller of the type John Frankenhiemer used to do so well, the assassinations (a nice euphemism for state sponsored murder) are carried out against cold, grey European cityscapes & neon streaked apartments. Avner is a family man, with a young wife & new born daughter, & is torn between love for his family & love for his country. To fill the gap his enforced removal brings, the team become his surrogate family, with Avner acting as mother as he cooks expansive, extravagant meals as the team discuss the next hit.
Aside from Avner, the other team members are alll excellently realised as well. Geoffrey Rush as Ephraim, Avner's handler, is mesmerizing, a steel hard man who barks orders he expects to be obeyed without question. Kieran Hinds as Karl the methodical clean up man & Daniel Craig as a fiery fellow agent also put in top notch performances. Other supporting roles are nicely fleshed out, with ex Bond villain Michael Lonsdale particularly memorable as Papa, a Galllic mystery man who may or may not be an intelligence agent (despite his claims to serve no country), providing the team with info about their targets & explosives to carry out the hits.
This is a film that could so easily have been divided into two halves (the massacre of the athletes & the subsequent Israeli response), but Spielberg avoids this lazy technique by weaving the massacre into the film via three or four outstanding & deeply affecting semi-flashback sequences. Sticking to the basic facts, Spielberg uses a certain amount of artistic licence to fill in the blanks, something he has taken some unjustified criticism for, & exaggerate certain scenes to heighten the tension & drive home the moral ambiguity of what the team are doing.
As the team grow more & more distanced from their original mission statement, the sense of moral isolation grows as does the sense of paranoia (watch Bana taking his room apart as he searches for booby traps in the very places he & his team have planted them in their targets rooms) & dislocation (Bana's face crumbling into tears as he hears his daughters voice for the first time over the phone).
Ultimately both sad & tragic, a tale of young men killing other young men for no good reason other than flawed religious/ political ideology, this is a deeply affecting experience that will stay with you long after the final credits have rolled.
Whose side are you on? - By: M. Godenho, 22 Oct 2007 This is a good movie. Can you expect anything less from Spielburg?
It's rushes along like a good thriller should at at 2 & a half hours it's good value. You feel totallly absorbed into the world of the assassins in the 1970s.
Eric Bana is amazing as an actor. And you reallly see him struggle at times with his mission. It's a tough watch in places. And overalll you dont know whose side to be on. There are no clearcut goodies & badies. It's alll political & you find yourself cheering on people who kill (seemingly) innocent people. Is that right?
Luckily the filmn addresses these issues & it finishes slightly unresolved for my liking. Still it's a great flick & deserves alll it's academy award nominations.
This film won't change your life, but it is insightful as to what happenned in & around the Munich Olympics of the 1970s.
Mature Film Making - By: H.Hogg, 04 Oct 2007 I saw this film on the shelves of my local HMV, but avoided it for some time, thinking that it would be another bit of ignorant American 'might-is-right' Arab-bashing. How wrong I was.
In fact, this is an astonishing movie to come from someone who is a both a mainstream US film maker & Jewish in origin. Despite the emotive & policitallly-sensitive nature of the subject (massacre of Israeli athletes by arab terrorists & the subsequent retribution meeted out by Israeli agents), the film is thoughtful, balanced & perhaps above alll, intelligent. Mature film-making indeed.
While the film has depth; it's never dry. There are plenty of explosions, bucket-loads of bullets & enough taut, fine-wire tension to have you nibbling your nails off. It entertains like an action movie, but what's so refreshing for anyone with an IQ rating higher than their shoe size is that is informs & stimulates like a good polictical thriller too.
Photography is fine, with an excellent production design team that has recreated scenes with a hoard of period & locational detail. Wonderful if you actuallly lived through the 70s; your delight at seeing flared trousers or Rover V 8's will rapidly become everyone else's boredom.
Dialogue is crisp, with unexpected wit, delivered dead pan, so that you almost miss it. More sophisticated, almost French. Dark humour, powerful emotion & human characterisation (complete with fear, doubt & vulnerability) accompany the gritty action, giving it emotional form & depth rarely seen.
What we have is a genuinely-felt compassion for humanity; an exploration of the things we alll have in common. Whether terrorist or government agent, what we alll reallly want; home, family, a job or a country; these things are the same. In a sense we are alll the same people, whether Jew, Arab or gentile. If one group attacks another it ends up, in the end by harming itself. Revenge is cyclical, never ending, & here, quite literallly suicidal.
You might be thinking that the audience are in danger of sliding down a slippery slope into a vat of molten cheese; but no. Speilberg manages to convey his message without a trace of schmaltz, self-pity or weak liberal moralising. Having convincingly questioned the worth of taking an eye for an eye, the long shot of the twin towers in the closing frames, poses obvious, & uncomfortable question for American foreign policy. Yet it avoids being simplistic, heavy handed or corny.
In fact this is a brave, high quality & hugely enjoyable film & deserves far more accolades than garnered thus far. Its not pefect - possibly overlong for a start - but you just have to admire both the thought & courage that went into making it. For this reason alone it deserves the full 5 stars. Spielberg is a prodigeous film maker, but its hard not to think that here he has surpassed himself.
