"There is No Peace at the End of This"

Rating: Null/10 (14 October 2013)

A provocative illustration of the aftermath of 1972 Munich massacre, a tricky meditation on morality & arguably the most controversial film of Steven Spielberg's filmmaking career, Munich is an intimately crafted, meticulously detailed & technically sound cinema that dares to examine both sides of a single coin yet ends up being an unsatisfying, convoluted mess.
Based on the infamous incident at 1972 Olympics in Munich where 11 Israeli athletes were slaughtered by Palestinian terrorists, the story of Munich follows the aftermath of that event and focuses on the secret retaliation program carried out by the Israeli government to track down & kill the alleged members of Black September; the group responsible for the Munich massacre.
Directed by Steven Spielberg, the film opens with an extremely accurate depiction of the massacre, followed by Israel's own response to the terror attack and for the first half of its 163 minutes of runtime, it's very engaging. But then the gear shifts, the fictional elements start taking over the factual ones & the control is eventually lost as the story entangles itself into one mess after another.
Technically, the film is as accomplished as any other Spielberg feature. Most of its depicted events are factually correct, Production design team manages to recreate the environment with strong emphasis on authenticity, Cinematography makes excellent use of the camera & lighting, Editing paces the film at its own desired pace but could've used a bit of acceleration while John Williams delivers with an emotionally-scarring score.
Coming to the performances, Munich features a pretty reliable cast in Eric Bana, Geoffrey Rush, Daniel Craig, Mathieu Kassovitz & others, and while their characters do have a depth & the performances are equally good, this aspect of the film never really stands out. Also, it was good to see the film not submitting itself to a one-sided perspective for it questions the whole act of retaliation, if it was worth it in the end & if it in any way accomplished anything.
On an overall scale, Munich is one of Steven Spielberg's most polarising works that's going to divide its audience with the difficult questions it has in store but purely from storytelling perspective, there was enough room for improvement as the story completely fails to hold its grasp in the later half. Nevertheless, Munich still makes up for an intriguing experience & shows a new dimension of Spielberg that many will find rewarding and for that, it's definitely worth a shot.