A fantastic, yet flawed masterwork from a master auteur.

Rating: 9/10 (8 January 2006)

I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was blown away by this haunting, yet flawed masterpiece. And afterwords, I can tell that Steve's theme for this year was murder and absolutely abolishing all human life.
You can tell from the opening frame, that you're in the hands of a masterful director. He recreates the brutal sequence of events during the 1972 Olympic Crisis, and does it brilliantly. And he even doesn't give you the whole thing in one shot, but makes you crave to see it more and more. And the addition of all the newscast footage from the actual crisis was a nice touch too.
Bana puts in an awe-striking performance as Avner, and is still showing off the talent he's been showing since the start of his career (a saving grace in Troy, and great in The Hulk). Everyone else who pops up during the film, does a great job in their role as well, but are clearly overshadowed by Bana's brilliant performance. Craig is alright too, but still nothing amazing.
The cinematography and overall story is gritty and amazing. The entire film, all 163 minutes, are nothing short of intense. People are dying, people are scared, there is all sorts of uncertainty on tops of mountains of blood, and the scenes from the crisis just keep coming up at just the right moments. Again, you can tell the handwork of a skilled director in Spielberg. His dedication to the subject matter, and his blatant attempt at showing the real message of the horror of terrorism and revenge, is evident in all the blood soaked frames.
The special effects up the realism aspect of the film, and when it gets loud, the sound really starts thumping. And speaking of blood, damn, there's a lot of it. And much more than I ever expected. Yes, I forget most of Saving Private Ryan, minus the D-Day sequence, but this film is just soaking in it.
If there would be any problem, it would be the fact that some pieces of explanation are missing, or just hinted at, and leave you staring asking yourself "Who/What was that about?" Yes, some movies don't need to spell it all right out for you, but some of it just left me dumbfounded, asking more questions than needed. And the film could have benefited with the removal of about 10-15 minutes. Some of the stuff drags a bit, even if you can't take your eyes off it. The sex scene near the end, intertwined with the final pieces of the Munich massacre just seemed inappropriate and silly (the sweat going everywhere in slow motion was bizarre as well).
In the end, a flawed masterwork, and Spielberg's best work since Ryan. And yes, it does more than make up for the fact that War of the Worlds sucked.
It was a nice touch to see the WTC in the skyline too, even if it brings in a whole whack-load of overall messages that should be taken from the movie.
9/10.