Munich
Overview
A thought-provoking surprise from famed director Steven Spielberg, MUNICH explores the aftereffects of the brutal terrorist attacks on the Israeli athletic team at that German city's 1972 Olympic games. Loosely adapted from the book VENGEANCE by Hungarian George Jonas, the script was largely written by the provocative, award-winning playwright Tony Kushner (ANGELS IN AMERICA), who lends an incisive intelligence to the dialogue. The film begins with the violent sequence of the terrorists carrying out their attacks on the Israelis; a bloody and gruesome sequence that is deftly and beautifully handled by Spielberg and his brilliant cinematographer, Januzs Kaminski. Back in Israel, we meet the handsome and charming Avner, deeply in love with his beautiful, pregnant wife. Domestic bliss is short-lived however; immediately following these "Black September" attacks, Avner (THE HULK's Eric Bana), the son of an Israeli hero, is summoned by his country's famed secret service agency, the Mossad, to carry out violent retaliations against those Palestinian terrorists allegedly behind the Munich massacre. Commanded from afar by prickly government agent Ephraim (the inimitable Geoffrey Rush), Avner and his team of handpicked men--pugnacious South African Steve (Daniel Craig), goofy ex-toy maker Robert (French actor Matthieu Kassovitz), morally conflicted Carl (Ciaran Hinds), and terse professional Hans (Hanns Zischler)--must deal with some shady, nefarious international figures as they track down their Palestinian prey. Their mission takes them everywhere, from the villas of Rome to a seedy hotel in Cyprus, and with each successful kill, Avner's iron will begins to dissolve, and guilt and doubt begin to take hold of his conscience. Strong performances (particularly by the magnetic Eric Bana), gripping action, moral complexity, and a political urgency make the film not only consistently entertaining, but enormously important. Kushner and Spielberg work together to make it clear that the past informs the present, and the lingering final shot should leave viewers with much to think about.
Awards:
Main Cast & Crew:
Steven Spielberg - Director
Ciarán Hinds
Eric Bana
Daniel Craig
Ciaran Hinds
Mathieu Kassovitz
Hanns Zischler
Guy Zo-Aretz
Makram Khoury
Marie-Josée Croze
Michel Lonsdale
Details
- Format: DVD (AC-3, Dolby, Dubbed, Widescreen)
- Run Time: 164
- Color Format: Color
- UPC: 025192182327
- Genre: DRAMA
- Rating: R (MPAA) (Strong Graphic Violence, Some Sexual Content, Nudity and Language)
- Release Date: May 2006
Movie Reviews
Notes:
Theatrical Release: December 23, 2005
Reviews:
"[S]pectacularly gripping and unsettling...A grave and haunted film....A movie that has the vision to dramatize a startling reality..." -- Grade: A - 02/01/2006 Entertainment Weekly, p.58
"This is a smart and often tense work....It's definitely powerful enough to make you wish he'd head in this direction more often." - 12/23/2005 USA Today, p.1E
"MUNICH is no small thing. No film by Steven Spielberg ever is, but even for this avatar of Hollywood filmmaking this is something apart, the most questioning, provocative film he's ever made." - 12/23/2005 Los Angeles Times, p.E1
Included in Entertainment Weekly's Top Ten Films Of The Year -- "Steven Spielberg's brilliant political thriller is a work of spectacular and unsettling excitement..." - 12/30/2005 Entertainment Weekly, p.114
"[Spielberg] has completed the process begun with simpler SCHINDLER'S LIST to become a truly adult director, with this, his bravest film." - 02/01/2006 Uncut, p.94
"[T]here's something deeper at play here....[A] brave and timely new film....MUNICH works as a secret-agent thriller in the mould of MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, THE BOURNE IDENTITY and, in particular...THE DAY OF THE JACKAL..." - 03/01/2006 Sight and Sound, p.68
4 stars out of 4 -- "Eric Bana's performance of understated anger and torment, as a Mossad agent leading a team of assassins in Europe, is worthy of a true movie star." - 06/01/2006 Premiere, p.105
5 stars out of 5 -- "[A] tense, vigorous, thought-sparking thriller that applies the spare efficiency of great Hollywood storytelling to the prosaic, ethical examinings favoured by master political filmmakers like Costas-Gavras..." - 07/01/2006 Total Film, p.113-114
"[A] timely rumination on the moral implications of responding to terrorism with equally bloody vengeance." - 06/15/2006 Rolling Stone, p.102
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