Review of Munich (2005) by Ryan M — 20 Jun 2012

If 11 people are killed, is killing 11 more people the best way to go? Is it justice or revenge? Spielberg doesn't focus on the inner struggle of the men in charge of hunting down the 11 terrorists, he doesn't focus on how they spend their days meticulously tracking their targets, he doesn't even spend that much time showing how they plan on killing + getting away with it.

This cannot possibly justify a near 3 hour running time, because most of the time we simply see a few action set pieces involving a bunch of murders. No explanation as to why a bomb is preferred over shooting someone, we just watch the murder, and they manage to escape.

There are two major problems with this film: The script is very bland, the characters aren't fleshed out in any way possible, and Eric Bana gives a pretty ordinary performance. The camera work is nice at times, but Spielberg's refusal to take sides in the conflict makes the whole film seem quite cold.

Although there is one laughably terrible sequence near the end when Bana is pleasuring his wife while recalling a bunch of people getting killed. There is a lot of unnecessary stuff in this film, it is too long, too boring and too confused as to whether it's a thriller or a drama.

Bland.