Munich is getting extremely mixed reviews -- from a coronation by Roger Ebert to a trashing from Anthony Lane. My response is somewhere between the two. As a thriller, it is a little predictable for three hours, I accept that. Nevertheless, I've rarely shared a character's (Bana's character's) sense of being hunted before in a movie. Yes, it's a little heavy hitting on the sermonic/moralising side -- but it is Spielberg, and you expect a little didactic direction there. The last scene, with the appearance of the World Trade Center (it's 1972) hammers the 9/11 commentary in a little too much for my liking. For minutes leading up to it, it was obvious that the two characters would end their dialogue with the twin towers in view. I was sitting in the theatre thinking, okay, pan a little more to the right, bring them in ... that's it ... there you go! And then there's the much discussed final sex scene between bana's character and his wife. inter-cut with images of the Munich killings. I interpreted this to be a comment on the endless cycle of violeve: go forth and multiply, the biblical Israel is told, and with every new child is born another subject of generational hatred and the need for vengeance. Others have interpreted this scene more "redemptively" -- new life entering the world, the morning after the darkest night, etc. Overall, it's a good, possibly important, film which misses some opportunities for subtlety and implied comment. Tony Kushner's role seems to have been to polish -- and he had literally only weeks to do that. An original screenplay from Kushner would have improved this considerably. That's not to give the movie a slating: i'd recommend it to anyone, and it has to be considered for some awards. The inevitable controversy in the U.S. about anti-semitism in the film is simply beyond stupid and beyond contempt.
Reviews
2 Reviews
King Kong
(2005)
The first time I ever experienced vertigo at the cinema
22 December 2005
Honestly, I gasped more than once when Kong was on top of the Empire State Building. This is a mammoth step forward for virtual cinema. Peter Jackson has not only re-made King King, he's re-made Jurassic Park as well. One could make some critical comments about the extremely minimal plot -- but let's be honest, that was a problem for the 1933 original as well. But the overall effect of the film is so dazzling, it would be less than fair to overstate the point.
I'm always nervous about reading philosophical themes into action films, but it's hard to avoid actually thinking a couple of times during this movie. In Cooper's original, Kong climbs to the top of the Empire State Building because it's the tallest building in New York, and the world (it had been built only two years earlier). Though Jackson's film is set in the same period, it's difficult to avoid noticing the absence of the Twin Towers in the skyline and realising that the Empire State Building is once again the tallest building in New York City. And who can watch those bi-planes attack Kong at the top of the skyscraper without thinking of 9/11? Much will be written about the computerised appearance of Kong in this film -- and it is fantastically successful. But, for my money, the truly impressive creation here is not the monster but the appearance of New York City in the '30s, which is extraordinarily believable. In a film landscape that features some quite beastly characters, this is a beauty of a film.
I'm always nervous about reading philosophical themes into action films, but it's hard to avoid actually thinking a couple of times during this movie. In Cooper's original, Kong climbs to the top of the Empire State Building because it's the tallest building in New York, and the world (it had been built only two years earlier). Though Jackson's film is set in the same period, it's difficult to avoid noticing the absence of the Twin Towers in the skyline and realising that the Empire State Building is once again the tallest building in New York City. And who can watch those bi-planes attack Kong at the top of the skyscraper without thinking of 9/11? Much will be written about the computerised appearance of Kong in this film -- and it is fantastically successful. But, for my money, the truly impressive creation here is not the monster but the appearance of New York City in the '30s, which is extraordinarily believable. In a film landscape that features some quite beastly characters, this is a beauty of a film.
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