Spectacular, but nothing we haven't seen from War of the Worlds

Rating: 10/10 (20 February 2006)

I saw two of Spielberg's major films this year; (I believe these were the only two) War of the Worlds and Munich. So, I have decided to compare Munich to War of the Worlds and let the reader decide which one is better and whether they want to see Munich, assuming they've seen War of the Worlds.
Munich is "loosely" based around the 1972 Munich Olympics and focuses on the hardships that the assassins went through during the years of hunting the terrorists known as Black September who murdered 12 Israili athletes. The film has an extremely dark tone, although not as dark as War of the Worlds. The main character, Avner, who is the lead assassin, is a husband and soon-to-be father. He is assigned to hunt and kill the 12 terrorist members as long as he stays in the selected European nations. He has four other team members who you will unfortunately not have enough time to get fully acquainted with. This is the storyline of the film.
War of the Worlds, in character senses, develops more of a relationship with the characters in an even less time. This is one thing that puzzles me about Munich. The movie is almost three hours long and has about 5 more characters than War of the Worlds, varying what you consider "important characters". So, why does Munich only hint here and there at the character's emotions? I mean, Spielberg does give slight notions towards them, but not enough to fully impact what is going on in their head, except, of course, Avner.
The movie has way too much suspense as well. Because more than 2/3 of the assassins are killed by bombs, the film has so many moments of waiting and expectation. It's almost annoying. War of the Worlds does this sort of thing in the cellar scene, but not as exaggeratedly.
The best scene in Munich consists of AVner loosing his mind and becoming paranoid about who might be hunting HIM. THe scene is beautifully done, but uses so many shots from War of the Worlds and the same techniques that its nothing new. My friends disagree but I believe I'm correct.
Okay, the reason I'm giving this movie a nine out of ten is because I've had a revelation recently about the film. Why the other characters are not so focused upon, why the movie uses seemingly recycled shots, and why the movie ends abruptly and leaves characters behind so simply, and its because the movie is not about the other character, and its not about THIS and THAT and THIS. The movie is about Avner. Solely and completely. He battles through the experience and the tragedy of missing his child's earliest years. Its about what happened, and how. Its about the realization of the disaster and how it will affect Avner's life from there on.
Great movie, but not as compelling, entertaining, and moving as War of the Worlds.