Spielberg Back On Track

Rating: 8/10 (17 February 2006)

After the disappointment of War of The Worlds, let down by some hammy acting and a weak storyline, Munich goes a long way towards restoring Spielberg's reputation. Based on Mossad's response to the siege and killing of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics, this is a near flawless piece.
The storyline is excellent, relying heavily on family/nation imagery throughout, from when Avner meets Golda Meir, the Israeli Prime Minister who remembers his father and comments on his wife's pregnancy, to Avner being disenfranchised from Mossad and missing out on the upbringing of his daughter.
The acting performances bring together some quality actors, such as Ciaran Hinds, Daniel Craig, the legendary Michel Lonsdale and the ever consistent Geoffrey Rush. Although he does not have the same reputation, Eric Bana's performance as an assassin and family man is excellent. Ruthless in his duty, his softer side comes to the fore when he hears his daughter's first words over the phone, arguably the most heart wrenching scene in the film.
But what is most impressive is the attention to detail to what is a period piece. The mixture of original ABC archive footage with reconstruction of the siege is eerily accurate. The scenes of all of the locations is truly a step back to the 70s, even down to the inclusion of the World Trade Centre in New York.
At 2 and a half hours, this one long film. But the drama is so unrelenting that the time whizzes by. And for such a violent film, the futility of violence is given considerable emphasis. Spielberg can take pride in this piece of work. He'll now have a hell of a job on his hands to follow this up. But if Munich wins the Best Picture Oscar, will he care?