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| Cast and Credits |
| Cast: |
Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Geoffrey Rush, Mathieu Kassovitz, Hanns Zischler, Ciaran Hinds |
| Director: |
Steven Spielberg |
| Writer: |
Tony Kushner |
| Rating: |
Rated R for strong graphic violence, some sexual content, nudity and language. |
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Reviewed By: Brendan Cullin
Rating: 9/10
Munich is the story about the aftermath of the 1972 kidnapping and murder of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists at the Munich Olympics. Led by Prime Minister Golda Meir (Lynn Cohen), the Israeli government assembled a group of five men (including actors Eric Bana, Daniel Craig and Ciaran Hinds), each with their own deadly specialty, to hunt down and kill 11 terrorists who helped plan and execute the Olympic killings. Avner (Bana) is assigned the leader of the revenge crew and although the men have no official standing with the Israeli government and are paid off the books, they do secretly remain in touch with the government through a bureaucrat named Ephraim (Geoffrey Rush). The movie follows the crew as they travel around Europe and, with the help of a French informant named Louis (Matthieu Amalric), track down and kill the terrorists in dramatic fashion. Unfortunately, this dangerous mission takes its toll on the men in many different ways. As the body count rises and the Palestinian response to each murder heightens, the men begin to realize that the consequences of their mission are as treacherous as the mission itself.
Munich is director Steven Spielberg's movie about these murders, the people and the governments involved, their beliefs and the aftermath of these incidents. It is a violent movie, a depressing movie and a movie that will really make you wonder. It will make you wonder why there is violence in the world and what is accomplished by reacting to this violence with more bloodshed. Munich is without a doubt one of the better movies of 2005.
One thing that immediately struck me about Munich is its intensity. From the opening scene when the Palestinians storm the Olympic village to every assassination attempt by the Israeli revenge squad, you will be on the edge of your seat. The murders carried out by Avner and his men are some of the most powerful moments you will see in a theatre this year. It isn't always fun to watch and it shouldn't be. Spielberg makes sure we rarely feel comfortable.
The acting in Munich is also outstanding. I keep hearing about Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain or Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote and yeah, they were both great in their movies but Eric Bana has without a doubt delivered one of the best performances of the year and you barely hear a word about it. In fact, the entire cast of Munich is great. Daniel Craig as the "shoot first, ask questions later" assassin, Ciaran Hinds as the clean-up man and Geoffrey Rush as the unapologetic politician are all fabulous.
In Munich, Spielberg certainly will leave you with many moral and ethical questions in your mind. I cannot say he completely takes one side over another in this movie. In fact, at one point, he even lets a member of the PLO give his opinion on the whole situation, which was a bit surprising to hear. The film blantantly questions whether Israel's reaction to the terrorist act - spending millions of dollars to murder men who were believed to have been involved in the planning - was even worth the consequences that were suffered. And more importantly, it shows the effects that this mission had on the five men who were hired to carry it out. You see them change from the beginning of the movie to the end and the ramifications certainly are not favourable.
In the end, Munich is not a movie for everyone. And it is not a movie that will break box office numbers in typical Spielbergian fashion. At this point in his career, I don't think that even matters to him anymore. This is obviously a movie that he felt he had to make and a story he felt he had to tell. The one frightening fact that you will face after watching Munich is the question as to how much the world has progressed on the terrorism and violence fronts since 1972 and where this destructiveness has gotten us. I think we all know the answer to that one.
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