Spielberg is still top-dog despite an unsatisfying whole

Rating: 7/10 (16 February 2006)

First, the good news. Spielberg once again shows that in director terms he's peerless. He exercises a technical prowess that is frankly on another level to other directors.
The scenes involving the set-ups and execution of each assassination (which is essentially all this film is about) cranks up the tension to an unbearable level despite their predictability and even manages to diffuse this with some moments of ultra-black comedy. Editing, photography and sound design are all masterclass level.
However, as Spielberg has undoubtedly improved with age as a director, as a story-teller he again seems to have become a little complacent. This film is little more than a document of what happened following Munich and is as coldly calculated as the protagonists.
The actors do well to capture the feeling of paranoia and lingering doubt in the rightness of their actions, but this would have been much more satisfying had the director fleshed the characters out with back-story.
As for the now infamous sex scene involving Eric Bana's character, Avner, and his wife inter-cut with scenes of the massacre of the hostages and terrorists at the airport, well, all I can assume is that this was in the hands of another director, such is the cack-handedness of it. It is probably one of the most needlessly self-indulgent scenes in recent memory and, being at the end, significantly mars this film.
Having said all this, you still have to marvel at the director's abilities and hope his next offering will be a more satisfying whole.