Munich

Brilliant craftsmanship without a drop of emotion. The combination of such a serious subject with this director promised an emotionally charged spectacle, and yet I witnessed a disproportionately drawn-out revenge spectacle. And while it was supposed to be cold-blooded, not a single scene managed to appeal to me. Spielberg wanted to make a "political espionage" thriller that would cut through the drama with interpersonal relationships, from which the lesson was supposed to be that "violence only breeds more violence." The film contains both, but neither component works as it should. Spielberg did not restrain himself and through the excessive runtime, he tries to create a moral agitprop not only for the Jews but for all people. And yet the skeleton of the story falls apart and the viewer only gets the impression of wholeness in the purges of the Palestinian terrorists, which are just pure craft, nothing more. That actually brings me back to the beginning of my commentary. (24/03/2006)

I’m giving this a very questionable four stars. Unfortunately, Spielberg has grown up and the emotional flatness and academic coldness that could be excused in his War of the Worlds cannot be forgiven in Munich. War of the Worlds worked perfectly as a pure horror movie that delivered amazement and chills through its technical aspects. Munich is an attempt to inventively examine serious issues for which supreme technical precision is not enough. Therefore, only one thing in this long film really works, namely the naturalistically cold-blooded murders, especially that of the female assassin on the boat. Some may argue that Munich didn’t appeal to me because the Muslim-Jewish conflict is beyond me, but I’m not Jewish and Schindler’s List is one of my top ten favorite films. Because it has a huge heart. (14/03/2006)

Steven Spielberg has crafted a deeply impactful drama that boasts a brilliantly polished atmosphere with immense authenticity. The topic of the 1972 terrorist attack is, in my opinion, not well known in detail by a broad audience, including myself, so I welcomed this film as it expanded my historical knowledge. The atmosphere is truly the film's standout feature. The performances are the icing on the cake, especially the flawless Eric Bana, who portrayed the Mossad agent perfectly. Some sequences are wonderfully built up (for instance, the scene with the bomb in the phone and the approaching little girl sent chills down my spine). The editing also had no noticeable flaws. I was pleasantly surprised that Spielberg wasn't afraid to present the film in a rather naturalistic way, as I honestly didn’t expect that from such a director. But that’s exactly what I liked. John Williams' music was as delightful to my ears as always. More historical films like this, please. I give it 90%. (26/01/2017)

Munich definitely isn’t controversial (if you’re not a fanatical supporter of either side), it doesn’t say anything new, nor does it dive into the depths of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It just scratches the surface and the characters talk about home. But that doesn’t mean that it is a bad movie. Quite the contrary, and because Spielberg chose (for him) an unusual method of expression (it actually seems that the movie is “controlled" Kaminski’s camera), it’s pretty fascinating. The authors also expect at least some basic knowledge about the topic from the viewer, therefore they don’t explain a lot of the names or acronyms, which is good, since the movie doesn’t treat you like a toddler. (05/02/2006)

This matador of a director wins on all fronts. Whether he's making Eric Bana cry on the phone or serving up a team that shoots at anything that comes their way. Some rough scenes I wouldn't have expected from him, even though I already know from other wars what he's capable of. Steven Spielberg simply doesn't hold back from diving into historical issues, this time ones that also affect the present. And he has successfully completed his mission brilliantly as never before. (08/07/2006)