Thoughts on "Munich"...(Spoiler)

Rating: Null/10 (23 December 2005)

Just saw Munich this afternoon in NYC on 42nd street.
Like most everyone else in the city today, I got off early from work and caught the 3:10 showing of Munich, (the 2:40 was sold out) Ten dollars and seventy five cents, thank you very much...
After an endless bombardment of pre-movie videos and trailers... (Can't believe someone thought that remaking "The Pink Panther" with Steve Martin was a good idea..boggles the mind)..Munich began not so promptly at 3:25. Using the vintage video footage of Jim McKay (RIP) and Peter Jennings (RIP) triggered memories of the actual event for me, since I was a Spud of 16 or so in 1972.
Munich is a very compelling film, but not the best of 2005, I still prefer "A History of Violence," as a superior piece of original film-making. The character studies were superb, as were nearly all of the acting performances...no complaints there..but ultimately you leave the theatre with a sense of survival and perhaps in a mild state of shock, simply because of the intensity of the story..reminds me the way I felt after seeing "The Killing Fields." Not exactly a "feel-good" experience...
But
I was fascinated to see how a "Black-Ops" mission would be set up and run by a small team of special contract agents...takes a whole lot of money. So although I didn't regret seeing Munich, not sure if I would recommend this movie to anyone else, only to people interested in the Historical aspects of the story. Gotta admire Spielberg though-- he took on a very tough assignment, and did a remarkably balanced job bringing it to the screen. Kudos
Eric Bana is likely to receive a Best Acting nomination. Kind of bizarre seeing two Aussies (Geoffrey Rush was Bana's "handler") playing Mossad agents. They pulled it off. Though Rush's accent wasn't nearly as authentic as Bana's...
Anyway, "Munich" is really more of an accomplishment as a mostly-truthful historical recreation, than a fun movie-going experience. And that ain't necessarily a bad thing.
Best scene: The Short Wave radio in an Athens safe-house picks up a Motown station..and the inhabitants can agree on the universal appeal of American Soul Music...
Doug Tuero Newwwwwww Jerrrrrrrsey