Review of Munich (2005) by Gregg G — 29 Nov 2014

Much as Steven Spielberg followed 1993's special-effects blockbuster Jurassic Park with a far more downbeat and personal project later the same year,.

When 11 Israeli athletes are killed by members of Black September, a militant Palestinian group, at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, the Israeli secret service organise a hit squad headed up by Avner Kauffman (Bana) to assassinate those who planned the operation. Putting together a team of four men, Kauffman travels about Europe incognito, seeking out the chief terrorists that have since gone into hiding. During the mission, however, the team begin to question the morality of their assignment.

Inspired by true events and based on the book 'Vengeance Day' by George Jonas, Munich is a slick and high-concept gung-ho flick in which the Israeli government (unofficially) takes revenge for the Munich atrocity by assassinating as many of the terrorists responsible as possible. But it's all done with subtle taste as Spielberg disguises his anti-Palestinian message in a quasi-espionage thriller. As a thriller, Spielberg meticulously sets up each kill with proficiency and without fanfare, but the breathers the director takes in between hits are far too long and drawn out; so much so that he is reduced to the use of flashbacks (the refuge of a lazy filmmaker) of the Munich tragedy to justify his characters' actions and to remind the audience that they are on the side of right - not that of cold-blooded assassins - and, in the reluctant yet enthusiastic Kauffman, he presents the human face of hate. Not that the PLO's point of view isn't addressed; in the overlong 2 hour, 40 minute running time they get roughly a minute's speech over a cigarette on a dusty stairway in Athens, while Kauffman's tacked-on empty regret in the closing stages is not to be overlooked. A far cry then from the pluralist views of 2000's documentary 'Black September' as Spielberg presents a heavily one-sided argument; with lines like "These people want to destroy us" and "They're maniacs",.