Post by Pulpmariachi on Dec 24, 2005 0:04:02 GMT -5
There may be SPOILERS but I'll try to avoid them as much as possible.
Wow.
That's all I can say about Spielberg's latest opus.
Wow.
You watch the movie and forget that Isreal is pissed at Spielberg who chooses (wisely) not too really take sides in the film. Sure, the film is told from the point-of-view of the Irealites who are taking vengence, but they're as much to blame and furrow your brows at as Palestine. You forget about the controversy and everything surrounding it.
You are wrapped up in the world of "Munich."
A lot of reviews I've been reading talk of how they can remember (or vaguely remember) the events of the Munich Olympics in 1972. Well, that happened about 14 or so years before I was born so I really have no idea. I'm sure some people here do, but not me.
The plot of the film basically is that a secret group of Isreal assassins are enacting vengence on these Paslestinians who planned and put on the murders of Isreal athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Spielberg makes the choice to present the film as a thriller. And a heart-stopping, hold-your-breath one at that. My theater seriously just went silent after about the first thiry minutes, so encaptured within the story. The Munich scenes themselves (scattered throughout) are intense enough as it is. You know the fate of these athletes and you wait with a cold sweat as it's about to befall them. On top of the intensity in Munich (the event this time) you also have the assassination team, stumbling through their targets, slowly being driven into insanity from the secrecy of the mission, of the killings. The killings. The killings.
Paranoia is a major part of the last act.
Spielberg has tripled the instensity (really the only word for it) from his earlier fare this year of War of the Worlds. Of Minority Report. It's about on the same level of Saving Private Ryan. Spielberg tries to combine the intensity of Saving Private Ryan and emotions of Schinder's List into this film, and while it doesn't quite reach the "emotional pornography" (as one critic who didn't like Schinder's List called it) as his 1993 Holocaust drama, the emotion is there. I think this is because Spielberg makes us feel for his characters. He's one of the few directors who can do that effectively.
And for the fourth time in his career that's spawned almost four decades, Spielberg earns his R rating. The violence and gore is realistic so it's more effective (you're not going to cheer as the Isreal athlete's cheek explodes, you're going to squirm). It's not horror blood-loss, it's realistic. There's some language scattered throughout and then a few sex scenes, but that violence warrans the R undoubtably.
Avner (Eric Bana) is the main character here, the one where the...I wouldn't say sympathy but it's the first word that comes to mind...comes from. He's caught in the middle, trying to support his budding family and serve his country. Since his eyes are where the story is presented, we are definitley feeling for him.
Everything comes together for this film, from the sad but angry score (as opposed the the sad-depressing score of Schinder's List, the sad-glory score of Saving Private Ryan, or the sad-fairy tale score of AI), to Januz Kaminsky's masterful cinematography. Seriously, I think there's hardly a better director of photography out there than Kaminsky. He floods the frame with light, making it almost surreal, like Avner's asking himself, "WhY AM I DOING THIS?!" before blowing up a hotel room or storming an embassy.
One of my major problems with War of the Worlds earlier this year was the ending. It was just too...convienent. Spielberg doesn't end his this way. It's not a happy ending or a sad ending. It's an ending that can best be summarized by a Simpsons line: "It's an ending, let's leave it at that." And the simple ending works as you reflect.
Questions are presented in the film, asked mostly by the Isreali Prime Minister. Can peace only go so far? What does a culture have to do to protect itself? Is it worth it killing leaders when newer, worse ones take their places? Thankfully, the film doesn't become preachy, but it doesn't answer the questions. It presents them and the film gives evidence and support for either claim so we have to THINK about it ourselves.
And I think that's what Spielberg was going for. He wants us to THINK.
And he does a masterful job of doing so.
This is easily the best film I've seen all year.
****/****
Wow.
That's all I can say about Spielberg's latest opus.
Wow.
You watch the movie and forget that Isreal is pissed at Spielberg who chooses (wisely) not too really take sides in the film. Sure, the film is told from the point-of-view of the Irealites who are taking vengence, but they're as much to blame and furrow your brows at as Palestine. You forget about the controversy and everything surrounding it.
You are wrapped up in the world of "Munich."
A lot of reviews I've been reading talk of how they can remember (or vaguely remember) the events of the Munich Olympics in 1972. Well, that happened about 14 or so years before I was born so I really have no idea. I'm sure some people here do, but not me.
The plot of the film basically is that a secret group of Isreal assassins are enacting vengence on these Paslestinians who planned and put on the murders of Isreal athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Spielberg makes the choice to present the film as a thriller. And a heart-stopping, hold-your-breath one at that. My theater seriously just went silent after about the first thiry minutes, so encaptured within the story. The Munich scenes themselves (scattered throughout) are intense enough as it is. You know the fate of these athletes and you wait with a cold sweat as it's about to befall them. On top of the intensity in Munich (the event this time) you also have the assassination team, stumbling through their targets, slowly being driven into insanity from the secrecy of the mission, of the killings. The killings. The killings.
Paranoia is a major part of the last act.
Spielberg has tripled the instensity (really the only word for it) from his earlier fare this year of War of the Worlds. Of Minority Report. It's about on the same level of Saving Private Ryan. Spielberg tries to combine the intensity of Saving Private Ryan and emotions of Schinder's List into this film, and while it doesn't quite reach the "emotional pornography" (as one critic who didn't like Schinder's List called it) as his 1993 Holocaust drama, the emotion is there. I think this is because Spielberg makes us feel for his characters. He's one of the few directors who can do that effectively.
And for the fourth time in his career that's spawned almost four decades, Spielberg earns his R rating. The violence and gore is realistic so it's more effective (you're not going to cheer as the Isreal athlete's cheek explodes, you're going to squirm). It's not horror blood-loss, it's realistic. There's some language scattered throughout and then a few sex scenes, but that violence warrans the R undoubtably.
Avner (Eric Bana) is the main character here, the one where the...I wouldn't say sympathy but it's the first word that comes to mind...comes from. He's caught in the middle, trying to support his budding family and serve his country. Since his eyes are where the story is presented, we are definitley feeling for him.
Everything comes together for this film, from the sad but angry score (as opposed the the sad-depressing score of Schinder's List, the sad-glory score of Saving Private Ryan, or the sad-fairy tale score of AI), to Januz Kaminsky's masterful cinematography. Seriously, I think there's hardly a better director of photography out there than Kaminsky. He floods the frame with light, making it almost surreal, like Avner's asking himself, "WhY AM I DOING THIS?!" before blowing up a hotel room or storming an embassy.
One of my major problems with War of the Worlds earlier this year was the ending. It was just too...convienent. Spielberg doesn't end his this way. It's not a happy ending or a sad ending. It's an ending that can best be summarized by a Simpsons line: "It's an ending, let's leave it at that." And the simple ending works as you reflect.
Questions are presented in the film, asked mostly by the Isreali Prime Minister. Can peace only go so far? What does a culture have to do to protect itself? Is it worth it killing leaders when newer, worse ones take their places? Thankfully, the film doesn't become preachy, but it doesn't answer the questions. It presents them and the film gives evidence and support for either claim so we have to THINK about it ourselves.
And I think that's what Spielberg was going for. He wants us to THINK.
And he does a masterful job of doing so.
This is easily the best film I've seen all year.
****/****
