Munich Review
by [email protected] (dnb AT dca DOT net)January 3rd, 2006
MUNICH
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2005 David N. Butterworth
** (out of ****)
The disturbing subject matter of "Munich," the aftermath of the kidnapping and subsequent massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games by Palestinian terrorists, demands nothing less than deference. And that, to its credit, is how Steven Spielberg's latest film begins, paving the way for important and difficult questions in coupling reenactments with live broadcast footage of the harrowing events as they unfolded before the world's unspared eyes. But before long the film deteriorates by taking on the look and feel of a "Mission Impossible"-styled revenge thriller, with a "crack" team of five special agents--the former Mossad-trained family man, the munitions expert, the forger, etc.--assigned to hunt down and eliminate, one by one, those responsible for the Munich atrocities. The effect of this genre shift is to diminish the gravity of the original incident, by positioning it simply as a launching pad for what ultimately becomes an uncomfortably standard revenge "entertainment" (and a ludicrous one at that--it's hard to believe this motley crew of "experts" was as successful as it was at bringing the perpetrators to "justice"). Surely this was not Spielberg's intention, since the director (again, in the film's early stages) hints at something deeper. But depth is an element sorely missing from "Munich." And there are just too many missteps: a weak Eric "The Hulk" Bana in the lead; the silly and repetitive nature of the retribution; the film's overall length, which drags when it should be pulling us in, plus one truly bizarre scene in which Bana's character ponders the airport slayings while making love to his wife! The Munich tragedy deserves significantly better respect than this.
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David N. Butterworth
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