Four down, one to go. This afternoon, I saw another of the 2005 Academy Award nominees for Best Picture, Munich. Ultimately, I was not impressed. At around 2 hours and 45 minutes, this movie was quite long, and it really felt like it to me as I sat watching it.
Don't get me wrong, it's not without merit. There are a few moments of Spielberg-ian tension scattered throughout. One particularly effective scene revolved around whether or not a little girl is going to be killed as collateral damage in an assassination attempt. More effective scenes came near the end, as the main character tried to reintegrate into his "normal life" following the events he'd experienced. But the space between these quality moments was enormous.
The film is on the one hand a "revenge flick" (it is based on a book called "Vengeance," after all), but on the other hand is trying to make dramatic points about the emotional toll of revenge. But the pace is too slow for the former (such movies traditionally power along at mind-numbing speed, so as to, well... numb the mind). And the points are too weak for the latter. Other films have portrayed the cost of violence far more effectively. Hell, other Steven Spielberg movies have done so (a subplot involving a secondary character in Saving Private Ryan comes to mind).
In the final analysis, I give the film a C+. The parts that worked for me did so incredibly well. They were just few and far between.
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