So much average

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Munich, whilst not a slavishly accurate historical depiction of the events after the massacre of Israeli athletes in West Germany in 1972 is an excellent movie showing the impact that these sort of operations have on the people involved in them.Eric Bana's role as team leader Avner Kaufman is superb, bringing a real humanity to this Mossad agent. The trials and tribulations he and his team go through during the years away from Israel are many and aren't just 'brushed off' like some action movie heroes might.The other cast members are equally adept at giving a real face to their roles. Daniel Craig plays Steve, the hot-headed South African, Ciarán Hinds as Carl, the worldly, at times melancholy old soldier, Hanns Zischler as Hans, the pragmatic German 'cleaner' and Mathieu Kassovitz as Robert, the Belgian toymaker turned bomb maker.Geoffrey Rush as Ephraim, the team's Mossad 'handler' gives a excellent supporting performance as does Gila Almagor as Avner's Mother and Ayelet Zurer as Daphna Kaufman, Avner's gorgeous, supportive wife. Other important roles are played by Mathieu Amalric as Louis and Michael Lonsdale as Papa, the Frenchmen (son & father) who feed information to Avner and his team and, paradoxically, information to those hunting them.The film pulls no punches, showing the brutality and ethical dilemmas the team and those they hunt face. It's this very stance that apparently gained the film some hate from members of the Zionist Organisation of America, a highly pro-Israel group who were aghast at the Israeli's being portrayed as assassins. Unfortunately for them, it's a case of "if it quacks like a duck, it's a duck". These men hunt & kill a number of Palestinians without legal authority at the behest of their masters. Sounds pretty much a definition for an assassin to me. Equally galling to ZOA was the depiction of Palestinans as (gasp, shock) having families, feelings and even idealism and not being simple robotic fanatics.It's this very honesty that gives the film it's true character. Suggesting neither good nor bad, but merely being.Those looking for a historically accurate movie will be chagrined no doubt, but I've yet to see a movie that is a genuine truth rather than an ambiguous kaleidoscope of truth and artistic licence.I have little or no hesitation in recommending this somewhat long movie to anyone looking for a thriller with much more depth that your average flick.

This movie doesn't bother with the actually documented history of the BACK STORY involving the PLO, Black September, the Palestinians, the Jordanians, the Zionist Israeli government and it's zombie "settlers" or what this movie is based on, namely: "Operation Wrath of God." For that reason, it's mostly what I would call propaganda and indoctrination. Hey, big surprise.*******-> "SPOILERS" (I guess if history is to be called that) BELOW: <-*******The hidden truth that is hardly ever told...If there's a shred of truth in Munich (and the reason I give it some stars), it takes place at 45:10 into the movie when Mahmoud Hamshari and his French wife launch into Israel (pun not intended) AND EVERY WORD OF THEIR DIALOGUE IS THE TRUTH. But because Hamshari is targeted as a terrorist and partly responsible for the Munich tragedy (without a trial and no evidence other than Mossad "intelligence"), EVERY WORD OF THEIR DIALOGUE IS TAKEN AS THE RANTINGS OF TERRORISTS and therefore FALSE by the ignorant masses. It's an old trick that holly wood has been playing for decades; slip in SOME of the truth among the preponderance of lies (omittance) and no one will believe the truth.And there are also shreds of truth at 1:30:00 but much less so because the Arab's prophecy about the short life of Israel is only a dream, unfortunately. The USA (and allies AE) are for Israel. It's all about AIPAC and the Israeli lobby of liars.I don't condone what the PLO did in the 1972 Munich Olympics. That was a mistake. The world didn't know what motivated them (and US news made sure we wouldn't). The PLO were naive to think that it would change anything. Indeed, it only made things worse for Palestinians. But what makes these Mossad agents any better than PLO terrorists or CIA killers or ISIL mercenaries or psychopath cops? Nothing. Not a damn thing. They are the same! They plant bombs. They are sneaky, deceptive and bungling idiots to boot. They kill women and children right through all of Operation Wrath with no discrimination DESPITE what this movie propagandizes as compassion on their part interspersed throughout.Although I lived through Black September and watched the Munich tragedy unfold on TV (along with the lies. TV always has been lies.), I had no idea of what was behind it all. Then the Internet became usable by the average person. Before that, info was censured to all except scholarly types in libraries and we don't know what we don't know.I don't condone what the PLO did in the 1972 Munich Olympics but what I do know is this: Terrorism is and has been the essence of Israel since 1948 and before (see the Nakba or Al Nakbha (Day of Catasrophe) when over the course of a year, 700,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes, their homes destroyed or taken, murdered, women raped all at the hands of armed Israeli thug gangs), and they are guilty of war crimes against humanity for their apartheid treatment and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in what is RIGHTFULLY the indigenous Palestinian land. The Palestinians are willing to cohabit their land with Israeli's but that's not enough for the Zionist Jews of Israel and it's mind-controlled citizens, is it.This movie is blank on Black September.

I have just watched this after watching One Day in September. Munich's primary way of identifying Jews is to have them say Mazeltov a lot. I found the whole film confusing - I had no idea who was on whose side and what the hell was going on beyond a lot of shooting and remote controlled bombs. Great if you like that sort of thing. Occasional interesting bits of dialogue - such as the importance of home for a nation - hidden among all the violence and sentimentality and an irritatingly self-conscious portrayal of Golda Meir. But everyone is pretty much as bad as everyone else and the film is a great proof of the saying "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind".

Steven Spielberg knows how to make a movie. He has such a knowledge and understanding of the medium that is truly unparallelled. He was probably born to do it, and he proves it every time, even when he (sort of) fails. Munich is not his best work, not even close (I would say it's on par with Lincoln, maybe with Amistad, but far below Schindler's List or Saving Private Ryan among his more political movies), but the opening sequence in itself is a testimony to his formidable talents.That sequence, the recreation of the terrorist attack and massacre at the 1972 Summer Olypics, is no less shocking and effective than the first 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan. The way it was shot and edited reminded me of Paul Greengrass's in-your-face documentary style (United 93, Captain Phillips) that makes you feel you are really there in the middle of events. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie does not really live up to the beginning, though it raises important moral questions and never feels oversimplifying. It just cannot sustain the level of suspense and since its core message (nothing is ultimately black-and-white and revenge may not bring peace and resolution) is not really new, the movie becomes somewhat boring as it drags on a bit too long.Eric Bana, however, is great, as always. He is an exceptional actor who makes any movie worth a watch.