Perhaps the least Spielbergian of all its celebrated director’s films, “Munich,” while still a solid effort, falls short of lofty expectations. The source of the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis cannot be easily elucidated in any rational way, and the director — working from a script credited to Eric Roth (“Forrest Gump”) and Tony Kushner (“Angels in America”) — appears to have gotten tripped up by confusion and good intentions. “Munich” chronicles a purported vengeance mission by a deep-cover death squad — Israel’s response to Palestinian slaughter of 11 of its Olympic athletes at the 1972 games in Germany — but does so unevenly. In a conspicuous effort to avoid the appearance of bias, Spielberg presents all sides as moral equals and righteous warriors (well, except for the French). His movie suffers as a result of his lack of conviction. Action sequences are compelling and production value high. Strong performances all around, the best among them from star Eric Bana as the conflicted Mossad agent assigned to lead the Israeli assassins and Geoffrey Rush as the plot’s mastermind. (RATED R. RUNNING TIME: 167 MINUTES)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 23, 2005. Read the original PDF.