Munich (DVD)

It's thought provoking, it's balanced and director Stephen Spielberg doesn't waste anytime getting to the heart of the issues or the action. Munich works on a number of levels as an audacious political statement, a tense thriller, and an inspiringly brutal look at two peoples forever caught up in a cycle of violence, constantly drowning in a sea of their own blood.

It's a bleak vision and Spielberg carries it off beautifully, providing us with a clipped and tight back-story, where the Palestinian terrorists invade the Olympic village in Munich, killing two members of the Israeli team and taking another nine as hostages.

The Israeli response is swift and fast with Prime Minister Golda Meir (Lynn Cohen) authorizing a top-secret assassination campaign which will carried out by the security agency Mossad, aimed at wiping out those who had planned the attack. It is left to the hunky Mossad agent Avner (Eric Bana) to emotionally and strategically shoulder most of the burden.

The team is a seemingly innocuous and innocent mix. Daniel Craig's Steve is the group's impulsive hard-liner, a strapping Israeli itching for reprisal, often clashing with Ciaran Hinds' Carl, the cleanup man. There's a sweet-faced bomb expert named Robert (Mathieu Kassovitz), and a thoughtful muscleman (Hanns Zischler).

As Avner cooks dinner, they all get to know one another, hashing out the fine details and the boarder implications for themselves and for the Jewish state. And so the methodological killing begins, yet as Munich progresses, what remains of certainty vanishes, replaced by a thousand conflicting agendas.

This is a world where the rule of the law is superfluous and where allegiances are none, the only constants are mistrust, paranoia, and the need to find more names, which inevitably comes at a price. No one is ever who they are, a drunk on the corner may be CIA, or KGB or the seductress at the hotel bar might be a hit woman.

Spielberg wisely avoids any soapbox speeches, but he does allow his characters to present both sides of the argument: At a safe house in Athens, Avner is confronted with a young Arab who tells him if the desperate need for a Palestinian homeland, a place they can call their own. And back in Israel, Avner's mother tells him that Israel is their land, finally they have a home and they will fight to keep it.

In Munich the themes are universal - the moral imperatives of violence, and in what circumstances can one justify such senseless murder. As Avner and his colleagues continue their operation, they become psychologically immune to it all. Yes - the operation may be successfully carried out, but how long will it be before righteous anger - the anger of the Israelis - can be continued before stumbling into bloody-mindedness? The irony is that in demonizing these Palestinian terrorists, they are themselves acquiring similar gruesome aspects.

It's all about the cycle of violence, a common problem that has plagued the Middle East for generations and will probably continue to do so. Munich deftly shows that everyone has their reasons for hating the other side - whether it is religious intolerance, or the fight over land rights - everyone ultimately thinks they're right, but such a stalemate can never be broken by killing people whatever side of the fence you are on.

Great movie action packed from start to finish and really good acting from daniel craig...
Couldnt resist the price just what i was looking for..
Perfect

Steven Spielberg does it again! This 'Superbly paced thriller' (Jonathan Ross review quote) is based on the real life events after Palestinian terrorist held captive and murdered 11 Israeli atheletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

With alot of facts in this classic about the secret Mossad revenge mission known as 'Operation Wrath of God' on Palestinie members of the 'Black September' organization which pursued the Munich massacre.

Great performances by Eric Bana(leadng man) and 007 himself Daniel Craig. This film should have won more awards than it did but due to the current problems in the world between Palestine and Israel i think critics decided to keep the film as low key as possible.

This film has just about everything folks a must see for any fan of Spielberg and for those who aren't...

THIS DVD WAS A VERY MOVING AND WELL MADE FILM THE ACTING AND STORY LINE WAS VERY TOUCHING AND HEART BREAKING AT TIMES. THIS WAS TRUE STORY OF THE AFTER EVENTS OF THE MURDER OF THE ISRAELI ATHLETIC TEAM AT THE MUNICH OLYMPICS BY THE ARAB HIJACKERS WHO KILLED THEM AND THE REVENGE BY ISRAEL TO RETALIATE.I WANTED TO SEE THIS WHEN IT CAME OUT IN THE CINEMA BUT DID NOT MANAGE TO SO I CAN WATCH AGAIN WHEN I WANT TO. NOTHING I DISLIKED ABOUT IT

The story is about a secret Israeli hit squad assigned to track down and assassinate 11 Palestinians believed to be behind the massacre that happened at the Munich Olympics in 1973. Unfortunately this film is typical of many that have multiple Academy Award nominations, it doesn't quite live up to its own hype. Maybe it was me, I expected more from Steven Spielberg, and, all the time I was waiting for something to really bring this film alive, it didn't happen (not for me anyway). It was good, but far from excellent.

very good and happy with my buy would not knock it and anyone else who is thinking of buying similar has a very good idea think it is brilliant and i am over the moon with it to be honest.

Although everyone I know thought this was an excellent film, I was a bit disappointed. I suppose, in retrospect, it was nearer to what actually happened than some of the other far fetched films I have seen.

I don't think this film won any of the oscars it was nominated for, but i fail to see why this was.

The contorversial story, based around the idea Israel struck back against the Palastinian terrorists who mudrered 10 Isreali atheletes at the Olypmic Games in Munich, 1972, is breahthtaking from start to finish.

Speilberg is a master director, and you see this here, as with Schindlers List, how he can go from the bold and brash summer blockbusters like War of the Worlds and Jurassic Park to emmotional, story lead, contorversial pieces that make you think and wonder about what was going on.

The style is not like much you would expect of him but the film is strong and shot clearly, the story told so well. The incident in Munich itself is wonderfully done with some recration at the start, then old news footage before we see the disaster of the airport siege later on in flashback form.

The actors carry off the sory so well. As a supporting actor,Daniel Craig banishes any doubts as to his ability to be a great Bond, and look out for an almost unrecognisiable Geoffrey Rush (his accent is almost perfect, so much so that i didn't realise it was the Aussie til the credits)as the Isreal based boss of the hit squad.

But top of the bill is the lead, Eric Bana. An unforgettable portrayal as Avner, the leader of the hit squad based in Europe. You see so clearly in him the stresses and strains of what killing in the name of your country can do to you. Whatever the excuse, is taking other peoples lives right? This, coupled with a young family back home and the ever increasing fear for his own life is shown so well. He should of been a shoe in for the best actor oscar!

I recomend everyone to see this film, its as moving, touching and mainly thought provoking as they come, but also 5* entertainment, a touch to such a story only Speilberg could manage!

Lads at work told me the plot so i decided to source it from e-bay. It is essentially about the main character an officer in the israeli army officer tasked with hunting down the killers of the israeli athletes at the Munich games in 1972. Good plot and not too deep and the story line keeps moving along well. For the money it was good value and worth watching. I felt the tension at every attempt at the kill, the film was not distracted by over elaborate focusing on the actors personalities. A fil that had a certain purpose and i knew more about the 1972 tragedy than i did at the films start.
a little blatantly violent in places that is in keeping with the political nature of the film. I may have liked a little more narrative facts to aid understanding but that just me. A recommended Movie.

This was an ok film. Unmistakeably Steven Spielberg - its clearly well made and directed. However, at over 2 1/2 hours it was quite a tedious story to sit through.

Thinking back over it, I definitely enjoyed some parts - tension was skillfully built as the terrorists were hunted down and despatched in a variety of different ways. There is also a rather haunting bleakness to the whole situation. But I think that the story just didnt have enough meat on it to try and turn it into such a lengthy 'epic'. It could have been chopped down by at least 30 mins and been a better film for it - as it stands, many parts are not very gripping and serve to dilute the story and sap the energy.

If you're thinking of seeing it, I'd probably recommend that you give it a go. It was a clear attempt from one of the world's great directors to secure a bagful of Oscars, but I dont think that he succeeded this time.

Over rated by media, a true story fabriacated into a film to suit a need for the present western society, wooden acting and boring,doing no justice to the real innocent victims of the crime, "the athletes" and clouding any truth of genuine politcal issues, it infers good guys and bad guys however the real world aint quite that simple, but maybe it was aimed at a simple world audience, if I had paid money at the box office I would have thought of asking for my money back

I was interested in Munich for a number of reasons. Firstly, I am a James Bond fan and wanted to see Daniel Craig in action. Secondly, I was interested in finding out what actually happened back in 1972.

So what did I like about Munich? Well I expected the film to be bloody and gruesome in places. However, what really interested in me is how these men dealt with the job of killing those responsible for the atrocity in 1972. In many modern day films we witness people being murdered and the perpetuator doing it without any conscience. This film showed how the different individuals dealt with the consequences of their actions. Powerful and gripping!

My main disappointment with this film was the length of time it took. I felt two and a half hours was extremely long and it could have been edited down to two hours.

Overall this film was very dark and brooding. Not everyone will like this film. However, it explores the human conscience and it illustrates perfectly the consequences of revenge.

Good story line and well executed film. not too much with the graphics stuff, just a typical steven spileberg film.

I bought this DVD having read the book "Vengeance" by George Jonas. The story of the Israeli Assassination squads set up after the massacre at the Munich Olympics in 1972.

I bought the DVD at about £5.00. A bargain. I knew that it was an import actually produced for the Russian market. The English subtitles were hilarious in their own right, since any resemblance to the words spoken was never apparent.

In spite of this I found the film rather predictable and tedious - the book was first class and the film came as a disappointment.

The fact that I paid such a low price ameliorated the fact that I was not impressed with the film content.

All in all I was happy to by a foreign version of a film because of the quite large saving financially.

This movie is a masterpiece....on of Spielberg's most thrilling movies to date.

A brilliant story about a real traumatic event. The writing of this movie is amazing and the directing compliments it in all ways. Spielberg has out done himself in the making of this. He picked his actors wisely as they all played brilliant roles, I cant honestly say there was one bad performance in the whole thing.

I recommend this to everyone out there, this movie will blow you away!

I decided to buy this dvd as i had already seen the film in the cinema and was looking for it to own for myself, the film is very intresting but can be hard to follow at bits, but very enjoyable

Months after the hype and debate, Munich stands up well to re-examination. The London sequences still look like they were shot in Hungary and the film's avoidance of the Lillehammer incident, and indeed the fact that its protagonists never truly cross the line in any of their actions tends to make it far more partisan than its makers believe. But the strengths far outweigh the flaws. Easily the best of this year's Best Picture nominees, it goes to great lengths to humanize its targets, and does so without the kind of speechifying that constantly stopped Black Sunday in its tracks. Despite the effort, it still ends up less about the moral quagmire of the Arab-Israeli conflict and more a film about the dehumanising effect on the film's righteous killers as skirted issues of moral doubt give way to the very paranoia they earlier joked about. Not that the politics aren't raised - Black September retaliation for the killings leads one of the squad to comment "We're in dialogue" while the much-criticized staircase scene does at least remain true to the characters by having THEIR dialogue limited to their own equally narrow perceptions - but the film's real ambiguity is more psychological than political or even moral. Even when the hunters become the hunted and the possibility that they're informers are also informing on them, the film avoids black and white answers: while two Israelis are definitely killed by a team hunting the assassination squad, a third is much more doubtful.

It's a fine piece of filmmaking, too, despite the odd mis-step, never feeling its 164-minute length and throwing in some excellent moments of tension as the inexperienced killers botch their way through their hit list. The period reconstruction is generally excellent (it has the look of Frankenheimer's French Connection II had it been shot in Scope, and makes equally good use of French actors), there's the Devil in the details (beds catching fire after being machine-gunned, the ever-changing kitchens in the showroom window that Avner looks longingly at as his home life becomes a faded memory, the glimpse of the twin towers in the final scene) and the characters genuinely look like they inhabit that era - indeed, Mathieu Almaric's murky underworld figure even looks like a younger Roman Polanski circa The Tenant.

It also showcases the perfect choice for the new James Bond - though since Eric Bana wasn't interested, Daniel Craig looks to be an excellent alternative, here giving delivering a convincingly blokeish 70s Afrikaaner. But despite mostly strong ensemble performances, it's really Bana's show, and he responds with an impressively intelligently physical performance - first seen clenching and unclenching his fist as he watches TV coverage of the massacre, desperate to do something, posture ramrod straight when he accepts the mission but ultimately shrinking within himself as it takes its psychological toll. Spielberg's best in years, and his first film with a decent ending in more than a decade, it deserved a better reception than it found.

decided to purchase this as it sounded a good plot. However, we gave up a short way into the film. I appreciate the setting was the 70's but the acting was also very 70's and extremely wooden. It was like watching a home made movie. not impressed.

Months after the hype and debate, Munich stands up well to re-examination. The London sequences still look like they were shot in Hungary and the film's avoidance of the Lillehammer incident, and indeed the fact that its protagonists never truly cross the line in any of their actions tends to make it far more partisan than its makers believe. But the strengths far outweigh the flaws. Easily the best of this year's Best Picture nominees, it goes to great lengths to humanize its targets, and does so without the kind of speechifying that constantly stopped Black Sunday in its tracks. Despite the effort, it still ends up less about the moral quagmire of the Arab-Israeli conflict and more a film about the dehumanising effect on the film's righteous killers as skirted issues of moral doubt give way to the very paranoia they earlier joked about. Not that the politics aren't raised - Black September retaliation for the killings leads one of the squad to comment "We're in dialogue" while the much-criticized staircase scene does at least remain true to the characters by having THEIR dialogue limited to their own equally narrow perceptions - but the film's real ambiguity is more psychological than political or even moral. Even when the hunters become the hunted and the possibility that they're informers are also informing on them, the film avoids black and white answers: while two Israelis are definitely killed by a team hunting the assassination squad, a third is much more doubtful.

It's a fine piece of filmmaking, too, despite the odd mis-step, never feeling its 164-minute length and throwing in some excellent moments of tension as the inexperienced killers botch their way through their hit list. The period reconstruction is generally excellent (it has the look of Frankenheimer's French Connection II had it been shot in Scope, and makes equally good use of French actors), there's the Devil in the details (beds catching fire after being machine-gunned, the ever-changing kitchens in the showroom window that Avner looks longingly at as his home life becomes a faded memory, the glimpse of the twin towers in the final scene) and the characters genuinely look like they inhabit that era - indeed, Mathieu Almaric's murky underworld figure even looks like a younger Roman Polanski circa The Tenant.

It also showcases the perfect choice for the new James Bond - though since Eric Bana wasn't interested, Daniel Craig looks to be an excellent alternative, here giving delivering a convincingly blokeish 70s Afrikaaner. But despite mostly strong ensemble performances, it's really Bana's show, and he responds with an impressively intelligently physical performance - first seen clenching and unclenching his fist as he watches TV coverage of the massacre, desperate to do something, posture ramrod straight when he accepts the mission but ultimately shrinking within himself as it takes its psychological toll. Spielberg's best in years, and his first film with a decent ending in more than a decade, it deserved a better reception than it found.