Review of Munich (2005) by Cameron J — 12 Jul 2011

Eric Bana might be one of the absolute worst actors in modern cinema. Okay, I'll be the first to admit that he's getting a little bit better, but only to where he doesn't ruin good movies anymore. Of course, he picked a good time to start getting better. "Troy" was great and all, but Bana didn't get to do much, but talk... and he still - and I'm not kidding - overacted that to a ridiculous extreme. Here, he's in a full-on thriller drama and is finally able to step up his game to where he can finally - at long last - be brushed away so we can focus on the real actors. At last, after all of these years, he's finally become passable. Maybe he'll one day become avera-sorry, got my hopes too high there for a second.

All of that joking aside, this film is good, but as much as there is to complement it for, it has a deal of flaws, the least of which including the occasional bad writing, gratuitous extremes of violence, disturbances and mild repetativeness. Of course, the film's biggest problem with is its being slow and overdrawn. The film isn't agnonizing, but it is quite dull. That's bad enough without the film running a little over 2-and-a-half hours. This is a dull ride and you have to be absolutely prepared for that. There are long periods of nothing and that's something that you just can't have in a film this long, much less when it features this dark of a visual style. While we're on the look of the film, let's discuss the cinematography.

The film's cinematography is certainly unique, but functions just as much as a grand flaw as it does a great strength. The film features Spielberg's trademark dark and gritty taste. With the film already being slow and overdrawn, the pale atmosphere is overly calming and slows the pace down radically. Not only is the film dull and overlong, but it feels as though it just goes on and on, due to the cinematography being too hypnotically dark and gritty. However, as I said, the cinematography is both a grand flaw, as well as a great strength. Though the cinematography calms the pacing down too much, it remains quite handsome and complements the compelling atmosphere. As much as I've been complaining about the film, it boasts a strong story that's backed up by a very good score, solid effects, decent production designs, fine action sequences and a powerful climax.

Overall, "Munich" is a slow ride that feels as long as it runs, if not longer, but the compelling story and characters backed up by dazzling technical value and a handsome appearance ultimately make it worth the watch.