I’m Trevor with the Sasquatch Movie Minute with a RETRO look at MUNICH, a 2005 film, directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Eric Bana. After the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, 5 men are chosen to assassinate the ones responsible.

4 out of 5

A haunted, dark tale about composed vengeance. Spielberg may feel an odd choice for this dour chapter in world history, but his dedicated use of 70s film grain and tension-soaked staging of assassinations show off his prodigious talents. Each set piece is different and tweaks your anxiety in a creative way. It is far too long and the politics feel a little obvious, but likely only because we have continued to see 20 years of Israeli/Palestine conflict since this film. The flashbacks to the Munich massacre are terrifying, gritty, all the more so because it actually happened. Everything with the assassination team works beautifully, the family stuff less so. The infamous cross-cutting scene between the Munich massacre and an intimate scene is distracting, wet and so so weird. Unfortunately, I think Eric Bana is an empty hole at the center of the film. His mournful quiet character just comes off as dull.

Best Scene. The killing of the female assassin on the boat is difficult. The use of the zipguns creates this patience, this callous viewing of the expiration of a life. It pushes the audience to question this mission, truly, its one of Spielberg’s best scenes.

Best Performance. I really enjoyed Geoffrey Rush as the Mossad handler. He is energetic and caustic, and I really loved the shades of subtlety he added to his final scene.

A prickly complex film that isn’t completely successful, but has some stunning Spielberg highlights.