So this is your solution, Mr. Spielberg?

Rating: 4/10 (18 May 2006)

I felt a lot of things when the movie ended, convinced was not one of them. Munich follows the exploits of an assembled team of hit men assigned by the Prime Minister of Israel lead by Avner(Eric Bana) to take out the plotters of the terrible Munich terrorist homicide. Spielberg claims this movie was a tribute to the deceased athletes, but after I saw the movie I couldn't tell if he was honoring them or spitting on their graves. The story immediately starts with the Palestine terrorist group posing as athletes making their strike(by the way,don't be shocked by the little US-backs-up-the-talibans node, you'll see later in the film why they did this and but be shocked by the fact that in the movie we never learn why Black September did his). After the hostage situation(though we don't see exactly how it ends), we are treated with a briefing room where the Isreali PM Golda Mier(Lynn Cohen) and his military intelligence plan the counter-strike,enter former PM bodyguard and Mossad agent Avner, who is selected for this job as they travel to various locations in both Germany and France, while Headquarters wires them money every now and then(Don't ask me why do they paid them in US dollars and why should they keep all the receipts), they spend most of the movie taking out all of their targets and occasionally buying inside information from «people who refuse to work for governments», that is until they realize someone else is also stalking them(we never know who they are and what's the CIA's part in all of this?) and Avner starts getting paranoid and questioning his assignment(and also having visions of the massacre he did not witness,odd to say the least), especially when some his teammates are killed one by one. For the most part, it's entertaining(but hardly Oscar material) even if a little long, there's a degree of graphic violence that can be quite shocking. The musical score is decent, however the storyline and the message it conveys is what turns people off. In case you didn't know, this was based on a book by George Jonas, who's source was supposedly a former Mossad agent, this source had approached another writer but he passed on it, citing that the source kept changing details and most of the stuff he mentioned didn't click. George Jonas's work has been pretty much debunked ever since, but Spielberg in the wake of the post 9-11 world decided to pick it up, give some spin and adjust the context, just like an old nasty forum topic,to be brought back to life like a zombie only to pray on the uninformed and on the easily influenced and on top of that it lectures as by blurring the clear line between justice and revenge(in a very childish manner, mind you) The plot often is so unclear(no explanation for Avner moving his family to New York, no background on Louis, sudden unexplained changes in the characters,a bomb maker who only knows how to defuse them, absurd murder situations, a PM who claims going after killer was against their values) it really feels like it was based off a fiction novel then an actual account of these supposed events. Jews are portraying as willing murderers and Palestinians are portrayed as just terrorist(though the plotters look like harmless and sociable types, gee, just like the Israeli athletes). In the end, Steven what you're saying is that your solution to something like 9/11 is: either a) pretend nothing happened and negotiate with terrorist(assuming of course, they won't do it again) or b) chase them down and in turn become the very thing they swore to destroy. So your solution is that self-defense is just as bad as being striked upon. And that World Trade Center shot basically says: The US hunting down Osama Bin Laden, his al-quaeda buddies and the countries who sponsor them is no different then Osama Bin Laden's disposable pawns killing hundreds of Americans, Spanish, British and others. Sadly, Steven, you fail to realize that unlike you, the President of The United States is responsible for the safety and freedom of his people and the free world and I doubt bringing Osama to justice is against their moral values. Make no mistake it's a decent thriller, but it's best not to take the facts the movie throws at you as gospel. But if you want a movie that explores the difference between justice and revenge in a more mature fashion without preaching go watch Batman Begins(Yes, seriously).