The athletes were shot, the movie is too

Rating: 6/10 (21 August 2006)

After the blockbuster "War of the Worlds", Steven Spielberg quickly followed it with a very different of movie: an historical drama about the killing of the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich by Palestinian terrorists.
The situation of 2005 was often compared to 1993. That year, Spielberg made the most-successful film of history (at the time): "Jurassic Park". It was quickly followed by what was about to become Spielberg's undisputed masterpiece: "Schindler's List", which won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.
While "War of the Worlds" is a terrifying and spectacular sci-fi action thriller, "Munich" is a very ambitious project, but it ultimately fails to satisfy our expectations.
Let's examine the film point by point. The beginning scenes with the Palestinian terrorists and the Israeli athletes start the movie pretty well. We feel the interaction between the terrorists and the hostages. The mêlée with the terrorists and the police at the airport is thrilling. Unfortunately, it's very uncomfortable to edit it as a Avner's (Eric Bana's character) flashback. It would have been even more convincing and real if it was told in a linear sequence at the beginning of the movie. However, it could have meant that Spielberg would have had to chop out the TV footage, which are quite fascinating.
It tries to be a thoughtful drama about Israeli-Palestinian relations, but it never involves us in an interesting way. It depicts Israelian dialects and traditions, but that's all.
Characters try to be interesting and dramatic enough, but the most interesting are the gang members. Eric Bana is very touching and professional by moments, but he often acts too much spontaneously and we don't believe him. Steve (played by future-super-spy Daniel Craig) is cool and he acts quite well in mood-enhancer scenes, such as the moments where he and an Arab companion argue about the station they will put on the radio.
The plot is too much complicated and the only thing we know for sure is that they have to shoot eleven Arabs who are supposed to be related to the Munich events. We quickly lose ourselves in the action and dialog doesn't help. I never knew the name of some important characters before I saw the credits.
Because it was so much discussed, publicized and aimed by high expectations, "Munich" is the kind of work that brings Spielberg back to Earth. It's not because you have a good concept, a good name and a good streak that you're gonna have a good movie. There are fairly good moments in the film, but it's not what it could have been. "Munich" is good, but it's also disappointing.