Excellently directed and performed but lacking in direction

Rating: 7/10 (30 December 2005)

As the synopsis says, the movie focuses on Avner and his team of untrained assassins trying to take out the Palestinians involved in the 1972 slaying of Israeli Olympians. Steven Spielberg, as expected, did an excellent job directing the movie and both the performances of the ensemble together and Eric Bana individually were outstanding. The movie brings up thought-provoking ideas about terrorism and vengeance, however, it is not until the last twenty minutes of the movie that they are explored. Most of the movie is spent following the team through its attempts to assassinate the members of Black September. Although there are brief images and references to the themes explored later in the movie, I felt that the movie was more thriller/drama than the drama/thriller as which it has been billed. This is not to say that the movie missed the point, but it was not until late in the movie that the viewer was shown the moral consequences faced by the characters and the ramifications of their actions.
I feel that this is the only problem with the movie however. As stated above, the movie is excellently made and well presented, but I feel that the screenplay was lacking in substance, which takes away from the excellence of the other aspects of the film. The movie is very good and is definitely worth seeing, but was ultimately a disappointment, considering who worked on it.