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May 2006 Munich Review

(May: Main Page * Features * Reviews * Screenings * Teen ) Cur * Archive

By Kam Williams Munich Review Cast :Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Geoffrey Rush, Mathieu Kassovitz, Hanns Zischler, Ciarán Hinds Director: Steven Spielberg Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Number of discs: 1 Rating Studio: Universal Studios DVD Release Date: May 9, 2006 Run Time: 164 minutes DVD Features: * Available Subtitles: English, Spanish, French * Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), French (Dolby Digital 5.1) * An Introduction by Steven Spielberg

Riveting Spielberg Espionage Thriller Out on DVD This emotionally-engaging, espionage thriller directed by Steven Spielberg (#2 on this critic's annual Top Ten List) revisits the retribution exacted on PLO terrorists after the slaughter of 11 Israeli athletes during the Munich Olympics in 1972. Based on the 1984 best seller "Vengeance" by George Jonas, this riveting tale stars Eric Bana (Hulk) as Avner, the Mossad agent personally tapped by Prime Minister Golda Meir (Lynn Cohen) to lead a team of five assassins on a top secret mission to track down the masterminds of the massacre.   Relying on the limitless funds provided by their sole contact, Ephraim (Geoffrey Rush), Avner adopts a new identity and assembles a hand-picked task force of a highly-skilled experts, understanding that, if caught, Israel would disavow any connection to them. The quintet quickly disappears deep undercover and embarks on a operation which has them crisscrossing Europe with stops in Geneva, Frankfurt, Rome, Paris, Athens, Cyprus, Holland, and London, before returning to the Middle East. What makes this movie so remarkable and far more compelling than a typical, political potboiler is the degree to which the personalities of the principal characters are detailed and developed. Ever so subtly, Spielberg masterfully conveys the inordinate toll which their gruesome job takes on the souls of the Avner and his assistants. Adrift and away from friends and family for months and months on end, the fallout is evidenced in an erosion of moral bearings, and intermittent questioning of the whether an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is the right response to terrorism. Spiritually transformed and plagued by disgust and self-doubt, they persevere in spite of the discouraging realization that they have somehow been discovered by the enemy, and are now, too, being hunted one-by-one. A most-profound morality play of Biblical proportions. Excellent (4 stars)

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