DVD Review: Munich

Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Geoffrey Rush, Ciaran Hinds, Mathieu Kassovitz, Hanns Zischler

Rated R

Grade: B-

There was a lot of hype for this show, which was nominated for 5 Academy Awards, but I feel this one didn’t quite live up to the reputation it gained. While it wasn’t a horrible film, it was slow moving and quite anti-climactic and left me wanting more than what I was given, making for a long two hours and 45 minutes to site through.

The film is based on the events that occurred during the 1972 Olympic Games, held in Munich, Germany. Black September, and Arab terrorist group, took the Israeli athletes hostage and ultimately killed them. A group is put together by the Israeli government to track down and assassinate anyone involved in the event that occurred. It is a depressing story and it needs to be told, but Spielberg could have and should have done a better job.

Let’s start out with the bad. As I mentioned before, the film did nothing to move the story along. It was anything but fast-paced, even during the few fighting scenes and the moments that were meant to be tense. I wanted so badly to get into the story, because it is such a sad, yet interesting story. There is little, if any back story on the group that is assembled to track and kill the offenders. We learn their names and a very, very brief history on them. The problem here is that you have no connection with any of the characters, nothing to pull you in to the story.

The film is acted quite well; probably one of Eric Bana’s best films. Geoffrey Rush (“Pirates of the Caribbean” series) can do no wrong in my eyes. He’s an amazing actor. Another actor that is becoming a favorite of mine is Ciaran Hinds. He’s been seen most recently in “Race to Witch Mountain” and some may know him as Julius Caesar in HBO’s “Rome” series, he is simply a pleasure to watch act. Daniel Craig is decent, but under used in my opinion.

There is a lot of gore in this film, very realistic gore actually. We see a lot of stylized violence in films now days, so when a film like this comes along, it’s a bit of a shock to see. I think it’s actually kind of necessary for this film though.
Having said all that, if you want a film that is interesting and would like to get a better understanding of this sad event, give the film a try, but know that it is not the most fast-paced film you will watch, and that Spielberg has done better movies.