Woe be the third act (spoilers, kind of)

Rating: 7/10 (10 January 2006)

I may be one of the few, but MUNICH shares more similarity to Spielberg's worst film (in my opinion) THE TERMINAL than it does to the MUNICH-compared films SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and SCHINDLER'S LIST. MUNICH starts as strong as any film this year, with a sequence that illuminates the historical realities of the 1970's; Americans (supposedly Olympic athletes) help the terrorists get over a fence into the Olympic compound. It's a possibly un-aware reference to America's bumbling foreign policy of "helping" other countries out.
Anyway, the action picks up quickly and major players are introduced in classic Spielbergian ease. The film may be ambiguous in its politics, but it's precise in its dialogue and character setups. Everyone has their dye cast early on, so you can see their developments ahead without giving away too much. What follows the fractured sequence involving the hostage crisis is a swiftly paced action story about the Mossad hit-squad put out on the terrorist's tails. As the assassins begin to see the humanity in their targets, the film begins to lose its way, until eventually the weight of Eric Bana's guilt derails the film into its frustratingly imprecise third act.
The film is gaining praise around the world for its daring stance on an epic, historical struggle between the Jews and Islam. But where the film does attempt a more balanced look at the struggle, it misses its mark trying to defend its three hours, finished with a too-long "you can't go home again" sequence.
It's a noble effort, perhaps, but certainly far from the best Spielberg has done. Perhaps he was so aware at how controversial the film would be for its subject he never scrutinized its narrative arc. What starts as an action movie with a conscience ends with a boring denouement for Bana's Hero of Israel. He realizes he may have enjoyed killing just a bit too much. This has been done before in better films. I'm a huge Spielberg fan, but I won't defend this as greater than a 7, an earnest attempt but it misses its mark.