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Special Features
- An Introduction by Steven Spielberg
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
At its core, Munich is a straightforward thriller. Based on the book Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team by George Jonas, it’s built on a relatively stock movie premise, the revenge plot: innocent people are killed, the bad guys got away with it, and someone has to make them pay. But director Steven Spielberg uses that as a starting point to delve into complex ethical questions about the cyclic nature of revenge and the moral price of violence. The movie starts with a rush. The opening portrays the kidnapping and murder of Israeli athletes by PLO terrorists at the 1972 Olympics with scenes as heart-stopping and terrifying as the best of any horror movie. After the tragic incident is over and several of the terrorists have gone free, the Israeli government of Golda Meir recruits Avner (Eric Bana) to lead a team of paid-off-the-book agents to hunt down those responsible throughout Europe, and eliminate them one-by-one (in reality, there were several teams). It’s physically and emotionally messy work, and conflicts between Avner and his team’s handler, Ephraim (Geoffrey Rush), over information Avner doesn’t want to provide only make things harder. Soon the work starts to take its toll on Avner, and the deeper moral questions of right and wrong come into play, especially as it becomes clear that Avner is being hunted in return, and that his family’s safety may be in jeopardy.
By all rights, Munich should be an unqualified success--it has gripping subject matter relevant to current events; it was co-written by one of America’s greatest living playwrights (Tony Kushner, Angels in America) and an accomplished screenwriter (Eric Roth); it stars an appealing and likeable actor in Eric Bana; and it was helmed by Steven Spielberg, of all people. While it certainly is a great movie, it falls just short of the immense heights such talent should propel it to. This is due more to some questionable plot devices than anything else (such as the contrived use of a family of French informants to locate the terrorists). But while certain aspects ring hollow, the movie as a whole is a profound accomplishment, despite being only "inspired by true events," and not factually based on them. From the ferocious beginning to the unforgettable closing shot, Munich works on a visceral level while making a poignant plea for peace, and issuing an unmistakable warning about the destructive cycle of terror and revenge. As one of the characters intones, "There is no peace at the end of this." --Daniel Vancini
Product Description
At its core, Munich is a straightforward thriller. Based on the book Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team by George Jonas, it's built on a relatively stock movie premise, the revenge plot: innocent people are killed, the bad guys got away with it, and someone has to make them pay. But director Steven Spielberg uses that as a starting point to delve into complex ethical questions about the cyclic nature of revenge and the moral price of violence. The movie starts with a rush. The opening portrays the kidnapping and murder of Israeli athletes by PLO terrorists at the 1972 Olympics with scenes as heart-stopping and terrifying as the best of any horror movie. After the tragic incident is over and several of the terrorists have gone free, the Israeli government of Golda Meir recruits Avner (Eric Bana) to lead a team of paid-off-the-book agents to hunt down those responsible throughout Europe, and eliminate them one-by-one (in reality, there were several teams). It's physically and emotionally messy work, and conflicts between Avner and his team's handler, Ephraim (Geoffrey Rush), over information Avner doesn't want to provide only make things harder. Soon the work starts to take its toll on Avner, and the deeper moral questions of right and wrong come into play, especially as it becomes clear that Avner is being hunted in return, and that his family's safety may be in jeopardy.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
89 of 105 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Attempting to understand what drives people to kill other people for any reason is, in the pit of the soul, a challenging enigma. Whether that 'reason' is war between countries at odds, protecting one's self when endangered, revenge or vengeance for deeds perpetrated by 'the other', for panic in the moment of survival - each of these feels wrong despite the fundamental belief to the contrary at the moment of killing. MUNICH is about killing, about vengeance, about protection of 'home', about existence in a world so bifurcated by age-old schisms, and about us. And while absorbing all of the 2 1/2 hour plus visual and philosophical information put forth in this epic film, the viewer is so paralyzed by the story that blinking for a second seems irreverent.
The tragedy of the 1972 Olympics - the brutal kidnapping and murder of eleven Israeli athletes by masked Arab/Palestinian marauders - is brought to the screen with brave and gutsy realism by a brilliant script by Tony Kushner and Eric Roth based on George Jonas' book Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team, directed with straightforward, no-nonsense sensitivity to all participants by Steven Spielberg, and brought to life by a cast that simply could not be finer. From the opening of the film sans credits with the Black September act of breaking into the Olympic games in Munich, the film moves swiftly through the formation of an anti-terrorist league of Israeli assassins whose job it is to hunt down the killers and murder them, to the final painfully unsettled end. This is all under the instruction and guidance of Golda Meir (brilliantly played by Lynn Cohen) and her advisors.
The team of Avner (Eric Bana), Steve (Daniel Craig), Carl (Ciaran Hinds), Robert (Mathieu Kassovitz), Hans (Hanns Zischler), and Mossad Accountant (Oded Teomi) are instructed by Ephraim (Geoffrey Rush) and stripped of their identities to enter this mission. They roam the world based on information purchased from a secret group led by Louis (Mathieu Amalric) and Papa (Michael Lonsdale). Gradually growing into the roles of assassins the group begins to murder each of the perpetrators until their success is noticed by all manner of secret agencies (including the American CIA) and the tables are turned: the lives of the Israeli assassins are as endangered as those of the Arab murderers. In a particularly touching moment in the dark, Avner and a Palestinian soldier debate the need for the state of Israel and the opposite need for holding onto home by the Palestinian: it is a moment of writing that sums up the entire Israeli conflict.
The cinematography by Janusz Kaminski and the music score by the always fine John Williams add dimensions of atmosphere to this dark film, but it is Spielberg doing what he does best in directing attention to moments in history that will never be buried that makes this phenomenal movie an emotional experience for everyone, no matter their political or religious beliefs. It is simply a brilliant film about the need for Home - that sacred place whether internal or external that maintains the reason to live and even to die for it. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, May 06
The tragedy of the 1972 Olympics - the brutal kidnapping and murder of eleven Israeli athletes by masked Arab/Palestinian marauders - is brought to the screen with brave and gutsy realism by a brilliant script by Tony Kushner and Eric Roth based on George Jonas' book Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team, directed with straightforward, no-nonsense sensitivity to all participants by Steven Spielberg, and brought to life by a cast that simply could not be finer. From the opening of the film sans credits with the Black September act of breaking into the Olympic games in Munich, the film moves swiftly through the formation of an anti-terrorist league of Israeli assassins whose job it is to hunt down the killers and murder them, to the final painfully unsettled end. This is all under the instruction and guidance of Golda Meir (brilliantly played by Lynn Cohen) and her advisors.
The team of Avner (Eric Bana), Steve (Daniel Craig), Carl (Ciaran Hinds), Robert (Mathieu Kassovitz), Hans (Hanns Zischler), and Mossad Accountant (Oded Teomi) are instructed by Ephraim (Geoffrey Rush) and stripped of their identities to enter this mission. They roam the world based on information purchased from a secret group led by Louis (Mathieu Amalric) and Papa (Michael Lonsdale). Gradually growing into the roles of assassins the group begins to murder each of the perpetrators until their success is noticed by all manner of secret agencies (including the American CIA) and the tables are turned: the lives of the Israeli assassins are as endangered as those of the Arab murderers. In a particularly touching moment in the dark, Avner and a Palestinian soldier debate the need for the state of Israel and the opposite need for holding onto home by the Palestinian: it is a moment of writing that sums up the entire Israeli conflict.
The cinematography by Janusz Kaminski and the music score by the always fine John Williams add dimensions of atmosphere to this dark film, but it is Spielberg doing what he does best in directing attention to moments in history that will never be buried that makes this phenomenal movie an emotional experience for everyone, no matter their political or religious beliefs. It is simply a brilliant film about the need for Home - that sacred place whether internal or external that maintains the reason to live and even to die for it. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, May 06
48 of 60 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
What could you expect from a two and a half-hour picture based on actual events and telling about Israeli government avenging their olympic team members killed by palestinian terrorists during Munich Olympic Games of 1972? Well, not a breathtaking, action-packed thriller, that's for sure. I thought it would be long, boring, didactic and over the top pompous. Even the presence of Steven Spielberg's name in the credits couldn't inspire me. Now I'm glad I was wrong on all counts. Yes, it was long, but of that kind when you wish a film had never ended. It's neither boring nor didactic nor pretentious.
Young Mossad agent Avner (Eric Bana) is given a task to eliminate the members of "Black September" terrorist organization with the help of a group of fellow agents. And that's what they do during two hours and a half of the screen time - locating and killing Palestinian terrorists one by one. "Munich" could become one of the many political thrillers about confrontation of different countries' intelligence services. It could raise some serious questions of historical importance and be overly-political. But Spielberg did an amazing thing with this global story - he transferred it to the personal level. So this story turned out to be not about countries, governments and intelligence services but about ordinary men. A country's vengeance was laid upon one man's shoulders, and that's how we see it - through his eyes. Along with him we will question the righteousness of his task, we will doubt, we'll see how a revenge appears to be ineffective and reasonless (as it always happens) especially if it's a revenge in a global scale: terrorism is like hydra - you cut one head off and two more emerge in it's place. We see how Avner who dedicated his work and his life to the country he loved ends up feeling useless and knowing that from now on his life is in danger. Furthermore he understands that for the sake of some illusive goal he put at risk the lives of his loved ones - his wife and child. "Munich" is the story of another zealous man who was grinded by the millstones of big politics and governmental interests. And finally this story leads to an eternal conclusion that you can't beat violence with more violence. You can deteriorate everything, unleash something you couldn't imagine in your worst nightmares, but you can't defeat violence doing the killings yourself.
Steven Spielberg demonstrated his immense talent again taking this epic and well-known story, drawing some ordinary people out of it and still making grand and philosophical conclusions.
Great film - awesome acting performances, brilliant cinematography (as always by Janusz Kaminski), interesting subject, entertaining yet thoughtful story-line, clear message which is at the same time not obsessive or annoying - prime Spielberg I'd say. Definately one of the best pictires of the last year undeservingly unmarked by the Academy award.
Young Mossad agent Avner (Eric Bana) is given a task to eliminate the members of "Black September" terrorist organization with the help of a group of fellow agents. And that's what they do during two hours and a half of the screen time - locating and killing Palestinian terrorists one by one. "Munich" could become one of the many political thrillers about confrontation of different countries' intelligence services. It could raise some serious questions of historical importance and be overly-political. But Spielberg did an amazing thing with this global story - he transferred it to the personal level. So this story turned out to be not about countries, governments and intelligence services but about ordinary men. A country's vengeance was laid upon one man's shoulders, and that's how we see it - through his eyes. Along with him we will question the righteousness of his task, we will doubt, we'll see how a revenge appears to be ineffective and reasonless (as it always happens) especially if it's a revenge in a global scale: terrorism is like hydra - you cut one head off and two more emerge in it's place. We see how Avner who dedicated his work and his life to the country he loved ends up feeling useless and knowing that from now on his life is in danger. Furthermore he understands that for the sake of some illusive goal he put at risk the lives of his loved ones - his wife and child. "Munich" is the story of another zealous man who was grinded by the millstones of big politics and governmental interests. And finally this story leads to an eternal conclusion that you can't beat violence with more violence. You can deteriorate everything, unleash something you couldn't imagine in your worst nightmares, but you can't defeat violence doing the killings yourself.
Steven Spielberg demonstrated his immense talent again taking this epic and well-known story, drawing some ordinary people out of it and still making grand and philosophical conclusions.
Great film - awesome acting performances, brilliant cinematography (as always by Janusz Kaminski), interesting subject, entertaining yet thoughtful story-line, clear message which is at the same time not obsessive or annoying - prime Spielberg I'd say. Definately one of the best pictires of the last year undeservingly unmarked by the Academy award.
45 of 57 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Strips the Characters of Credibility to Get Its Point Across. And It Doesn't.
June 23, 2006
Format:DVD
"Munich" is a fictionalized account of a secret Israeli mission to assassinate key leaders of the Palestinian Black September faction that was responsible for the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Munich, West Germany. The film is based on the 1984 book "Vengeance" by George Jonas in which a former Israeli Mossad agent claiming to have been the leader of a squad that killed 7 Black September targets told his story. Mossad has never confirmed the story, and Jonas admits that it is impossible to know how much his source may have exaggerated, but director Steven Spielberg tracked the ex-Mossad agent down and was apparently satisfied that the gist of the story is true. The dialogue and characterizations are fictionalized for the movie, however, which makes me wonder why Spielberg cared so much about veracity. "Munich" claims only to have been "inspired by real events", and that should be taken literally. Though these assassinations did take place, "Munich" alters motives and personalities so thoroughly to suit its themes that the film is essentially fiction.
After the world watches in horror as 11 Israeli hostages die at the hands of a group of Palestinians who had tried to use them to win the freedom of 200 imprisoned compatriots, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir (Lynn Cohen) decides that Israel should show its strength and avenge the deaths of its citizens. A Mossad security officer named Avner (Eric Bana) is assigned a team of 4 men, provided with a clandestine method of receiving funds, and given a list of 11 Palestinians living in Europe who are targets for assassination. The team is set adrift to carry out its mission, officially unacknowledged by Mossad. They move from nation to nation tracking down the targets, killing them, preferably with bombs, frequently turning to a mysterious information dealer (Mathieu Amalric) to locate the men on their list. But the violent deaths of prominent Palestinians in Europe doesn't go unnoticed. Anti-Israeli violence escalates, and the hunters become the hunted.
George Jonas hates "Munich", because he feels that Spielberg fails to distinguish between terrorism and counterterrorism. Palestinians may object to the implication that Mossad meted out justice to those who planned the Munich debacle, when actually the targets were prominent members of Black September who may or may not have had anything to do with Munich. The assassinations were intended to serve as a deterrent to future violence against Israelis. Steven Spielberg has said that his intention in "Munich" is to highlight the dilemmas and issues incumbent in fighting violence with violence, not to oppose that approach, but to caution that it is easy to get a bad result. He has invented conversations and radically altered personalities to that end which, unfortunately, leave Avner and his comrades without a shred of credibility. Avner is portrayed as a man nearly paralyzed by a crisis of conscience. His team members are contrived to represent different aspects of his conflicted psyche. But assassins do not have crises of conscience. They believe unfailing in what they do. The conversations that these men have reflect the internal dialogues of the filmmakers. But Mossad agents are not liberal Hollywood intellectuals. They don't think like that.
The characters aren't credible, and therefore the film isn't either. Avner's behavior doesn't even make sense within the context of the plot. He is the flakiest assassin ever. "Munich" is not so much morally ambiguous, even-handed, or provocative as it is simply muddy. It's so ineffective that Spielberg needed to explain his ideas in an introduction on the DVD. As to the film's relevance to anti-American terrorism today, it doesn't have any. Black September was a secular organization in a land dispute, much like the IRA, FLN, or Chechen separatists. Its leadership were educated, liberal, and pro-Western. Al-Qaeda are religious fanatics with no specific grievance and nothing to lose. Palestinians will think "Munich" gives the Israelis too much credit for scruples. Israelis will think that it posits a moral dilemma where none existed. The fact that "Munich" doesn't please either party doesn't make it a good film. Speilberg's ideas may be worth considering. But putting equivocation and moral anguish into the mouths of professional assassins is a lazy, unconvincing way to convey those ideas.
The DVD (Universal 2006 single disc): There is an optional introduction by director Steven Spielberg (4 1/2 min) in which he talks about developing the film from the book "Vengeance", what parts of the story are indisputable, and his intentions with the film. Subtitles are available in English, SDH, Spanish, and French. Dubbing is available in French. German and Arabic dialogue is subtitled by default, but the white subtitles are difficult to read. DVS (Descriptive Video Service) is available to describe the film's visual elements for the visually impaired.
After the world watches in horror as 11 Israeli hostages die at the hands of a group of Palestinians who had tried to use them to win the freedom of 200 imprisoned compatriots, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir (Lynn Cohen) decides that Israel should show its strength and avenge the deaths of its citizens. A Mossad security officer named Avner (Eric Bana) is assigned a team of 4 men, provided with a clandestine method of receiving funds, and given a list of 11 Palestinians living in Europe who are targets for assassination. The team is set adrift to carry out its mission, officially unacknowledged by Mossad. They move from nation to nation tracking down the targets, killing them, preferably with bombs, frequently turning to a mysterious information dealer (Mathieu Amalric) to locate the men on their list. But the violent deaths of prominent Palestinians in Europe doesn't go unnoticed. Anti-Israeli violence escalates, and the hunters become the hunted.
George Jonas hates "Munich", because he feels that Spielberg fails to distinguish between terrorism and counterterrorism. Palestinians may object to the implication that Mossad meted out justice to those who planned the Munich debacle, when actually the targets were prominent members of Black September who may or may not have had anything to do with Munich. The assassinations were intended to serve as a deterrent to future violence against Israelis. Steven Spielberg has said that his intention in "Munich" is to highlight the dilemmas and issues incumbent in fighting violence with violence, not to oppose that approach, but to caution that it is easy to get a bad result. He has invented conversations and radically altered personalities to that end which, unfortunately, leave Avner and his comrades without a shred of credibility. Avner is portrayed as a man nearly paralyzed by a crisis of conscience. His team members are contrived to represent different aspects of his conflicted psyche. But assassins do not have crises of conscience. They believe unfailing in what they do. The conversations that these men have reflect the internal dialogues of the filmmakers. But Mossad agents are not liberal Hollywood intellectuals. They don't think like that.
The characters aren't credible, and therefore the film isn't either. Avner's behavior doesn't even make sense within the context of the plot. He is the flakiest assassin ever. "Munich" is not so much morally ambiguous, even-handed, or provocative as it is simply muddy. It's so ineffective that Spielberg needed to explain his ideas in an introduction on the DVD. As to the film's relevance to anti-American terrorism today, it doesn't have any. Black September was a secular organization in a land dispute, much like the IRA, FLN, or Chechen separatists. Its leadership were educated, liberal, and pro-Western. Al-Qaeda are religious fanatics with no specific grievance and nothing to lose. Palestinians will think "Munich" gives the Israelis too much credit for scruples. Israelis will think that it posits a moral dilemma where none existed. The fact that "Munich" doesn't please either party doesn't make it a good film. Speilberg's ideas may be worth considering. But putting equivocation and moral anguish into the mouths of professional assassins is a lazy, unconvincing way to convey those ideas.
The DVD (Universal 2006 single disc): There is an optional introduction by director Steven Spielberg (4 1/2 min) in which he talks about developing the film from the book "Vengeance", what parts of the story are indisputable, and his intentions with the film. Subtitles are available in English, SDH, Spanish, and French. Dubbing is available in French. German and Arabic dialogue is subtitled by default, but the white subtitles are difficult to read. DVS (Descriptive Video Service) is available to describe the film's visual elements for the visually impaired.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Movie
Good historical remake, I like this better than the older version. Someone talked about this movie recently and I wanted to see it.
Published 5 days ago by S. Cooper
5.0 out of 5 stars
intense
took a lnog time to get going but once it did was very intense.kept you on the edge of your seat
Published 22 days ago by donald duck
4.0 out of 5 stars
There's no peace at the end of this no matter what you believe. You...
Spielberg's movie cannot be categorized. It's a story of vengeance, pain, & anguish. PTSD? Eric Bana's character is experiencing that. It can't be hidden. Read more
Published 26 days ago by Menotyou
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the greats
This movie is one of Spielberg's best. It's not on blue ray but I actually liked watching this on regular DVD. Gave it character for this type of movie being the 70's..
Published 1 month ago by Brian J. Marino
5.0 out of 5 stars
L.Wright has no idea what he's talking about!!!
Umm.....first of all L.Wright, if you only watched 20-30 minutes than you didn't even give it a chance. The plotting in the beginning is very necessary. Read more
Published 1 month ago by J. Shur
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not a movie that interested me
Bought the DVD after reading in the message boards of a movie site how good it was. That it was one of Spielberg's best. Read more
Published 2 months ago by L. Wright
5.0 out of 5 stars
Impressive thriller
These days a cheesy movie Argo won an award. To me this movie deserved that award. The actors are not famous but the cast is really impressive. I would recommend buying this movie.
Published 2 months ago by Camilo2
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Movie
This movie is phenomenal. It really raises questions about how to best fight terrorism. Revenge and fighting terrorism with terrorism is not the way to go.
Published 2 months ago by Luke Brown
5.0 out of 5 stars
drama
Personally I love this movie, the score brings a nice touch to the action/drama on screen. The two-disk version is well worth it if you love it and want to know more about the... Read more
Published 3 months ago by R. Gonzalez
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Gifts
I ordered several of these DVD's because I wanted to give them to several people. This movie is spot on for this day and age of our war on terrorism. Read more
Published 3 months ago by M. Bailey
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