Spielberg goes for the jugular

Rating: 10/10 (9 January 2006)

Right from the get-go Steven Spielberg goes for the jugular without pause or hesitation in the opening moments of Munich, his latest film about the events that happened after the 1972 Olympic terrorist massacre. Of course I wasn't alive to have experienced this myself, but what's up on the big screen is nothing short of breathtaking, and shocking. I almost feel as if I did experience it in the same way as many people did back in '72, sitting on their sofa's watching it on television. The opening scenes are brutal, vicious and gut-wrenching, and the same can be said for the rest of what follows afterwards. For those who may have thought that Spielberg might have been "losing it" or "getting soft", clearly they don't know crap, and obviously haven't seen this film. This is Spielberg's darkest and most razor-sharp film in years, right along side Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List. There's just something about the way Spielberg does historically based non-fiction, you get sucked in, you're there...and he's always firing on all cylinders.
Munich is 164 minutes long, and from the start of it Mr. Spielberg demands that you pay attention. The film follows five agents working unofficially for the Israeli secret service to hunt down and assassinate the 11 terrorists that were believed to have been behind the planning the murders of the 11 Israeli athletes during the Olympics in Munich. Leading the team is Avner, who's brilliantly played by Eric Bana, a man who at first feels perfectly fine about taking up this new assignment, but as their assassinations go down, one by one, he starts to feel as if it's all been for nothing. Members of his own team are being hunted down by Arab terrorists, who are getting back at Avner and his team for their assassinations. It goes back and forth, we kill them, they kill us, and it never ends. And in the end Avner fears for his life, his wife and his new born baby, that possibly around every corner, or in any car someone might be trying to kill him. Avner's paranoia is both very real and very haunting, and the things he has done in the name of his country have left scars that will haunt him for the rest of his days.
Munich is one of only a few films to come out of Hollywood that seems to support the idea that killing for revenge is not only a terrible thing, but ultimately pointless. The only other film I've seen in years that suggests the same thing was Clint Eastwood's Mystic River, another great film. Unlike films like Kill Bill or Man on Fire, Munich shows us that revenge is a cycle that never ends; violence begets more violence. And the story and situation that's presented in Munich relates strongly to what's going on in our world, right now as I write this very review. These are the kinds of films that people NEED to see, because they have powerful messages, and they NEED to be heard. This is without a doubt one of my favorite films of 2005. And if the Academy Awards weren't so political, this film should, at the very least get a few Oscar nominations. Why can't there be more films like this?