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| Munich (2-Disc Collector's Edition) |
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Buy New: $49.98
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $49.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 26 reviews)
Sales Rank: 1980
Category: DVD
Director: Steven Spielberg
Publisher: Universal Studios
Studio: Universal Studios
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
Label: Universal Studios
Format: Ac-3, Color, Dubbed, Limited Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 164 minutes
Number Of Items: 2
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 5.5 x 0.7
UPC: 025192921124
EAN: 0025192921124
ASIN: B00005JOIH
Release Date: May 9, 2006
Theatrical Release Date: January 6, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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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, its 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). Its physically and emotionally messy work, and conflicts between Avner and his teams handler, Ephraim (Geoffrey Rush), over information Avner doesnt 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 familys 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 Americas 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
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Customer Reviews: Read 21 more reviews...
Just A goy who like movies June 25, 2006
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Speilberg uses his abilities to great affect to support the tired homily that violence breads violence.
The film is good on on set pieces but as a whole it has no substance, even though it is 'inspired' by real events in world history. I can't find in myself to say it is based on real events cos anyone with a brain will know it probably didn't pan out this way in reality.
It's interesting that he hired Michael Lonsdale to play a signifignant avuncular role in this film, a guy who has featured in two other, IMHO, far better movies about subversive undercover operatives namely "The Day Of the Jackal" and "Ronin".
He strip mines resources quite well, using strangely enough, mostly non-jewish actors to play all these roles, I still think Ridley Scott for all his lack of emotional histrionics can do this stuff better, and he has the ability to say whats on his mind without having to look over his shoulder to some received opinion outside his head.
In conclusion the man Speilberg is a genius filmmaker, but now he wants to make a difference he makes me wince, he did a great job turning a pulp fiction novel about the theme of cloning: Jurassic Park into a movie, but I dont think he would even know how to approach the possibilty of making his former mates (I'm assuming) latest book State of Fear into a film . But though, the thing is, even if he didn't agree with it, he could do a good shill job and isn't that frightening?
 Spielberg throws a curve ball with "Munich". June 23, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I remember some of the controversy over Steven Spielberg's newest film entitled "Munich" when it was quietly released to theatres. After finally getting to see it recently, I have to honestly say that "Munich" is an incredibly well-done but ultimately thought-provoking movie and ranks among the most `out of the blue' films of Spielberg's career and yet another home run from him and his crew.
It is the 1972 Summer Olympics in the city of Munich in southeastern Germany. The games go smoothly and joyously until on September 9, a vicious band of terrorists who call themselves the Black September, take eleven Israeli athletes hostage.
Great presentation for this Limited Edition set May 31, 2006
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I'll be the first to admit that I'm not too crazy about the fact that they're charging what is basically a premium price for this two-disc set. I've seen other regularly priced discs with just as many extras, if not more, than this one has so you're probably asking yourself why am I recommending this?
The packaging for this disc is a very nice slipcase edition complete with a great 32 page photobook.
The 80 minutes or so of featurettes are very informative and cover a lot of what went into making the film, as well as details of the actual events of the '72 Olympics. Spielberg usually has a well put together set of featurettes for his films and this disc is no exception. Don't expect a director's commentary as Spielberg doesn't do them. He is gracious enough to provide an introduction to the film and does talk about it at length in the featurettes so, it's not like he pulls a Wachowski Brothers and absolutely refuses to say anything at all.
The disc looks and sounds great and though I would've loved a DTS track, the soundtrack is still thunderous in DD 5.1. In fact, this movie is mainly dialogue driven and is quite low key as a result but the explosions in this movie are downright huge.
As for the movie itself, I feel like it gets better every time I watch it. This movie definitely is not for everyone due to the amount of violence in it but I consider it to be an amazing, powerful film that was wrongly overlooked last year. If you enjoyed the movie enough to want to learn more about it, I strongly suggest going with the limited edition set.
 Sitting on the Fence for 2-1/2 Hours May 29, 2006
9 out of 54 found this review helpful
German fascism is mostly in the past: it is easy to take a stand against it. Islamofascism is alive and kicking, which compels Mr. Spielberg to try a precarious balance between his Jewishness, his gilded liberal's guilt, and his personal cowardice. As a result, Mr. Spielberg invites us to sit on the fence with him for two or so hours, watching this boring, talentless, turbid product of lack of imagination. Not that actors aren't trying: they do. Not that the plot is improbable: it is, more or less, based on the facts, and could have been made into a very deep, thrilling film. But deceitful, double-sided moralizing kills everything. Critics may love this kind of a morally irresolute, surface-scratching portrayal of inner confusion projected on the outside world. Audience, at least a large part of it, is unmoved. We are tired of clueless mediocrity masquerading as our mentor. Mr. Spielberg, why don't you... retire?
No Justice, No Peace -- but Justice for Whom? May 21, 2006
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
(Contains spoilers). Munich is not Speilberg's film about the Arab-Israeli confict. It is his film about September 11. He has used a semi-fictional framework to remind us that September was not chosen as the time for Arab terrorism's murderous visitation on New York and Washington by coincidence. It was intended to remind us of "Black September," just as was the shocking slaughter of the Israeli Olympians in Munich in 1972. Why did Avram have to sign his contract with Ephraim to "disappear?" Everyone knew he was working for Israel. It was so that the CIA could keep its truce with Ali Hassan Salameh, who was being bribed for information protecting American diplomats during the murderous 70's. Speilberg makes this American connection clear when the Americans foil Avram's team in London and when he shows us Salameh's lavish millionaire house party in Spain. Speilberg doesn't just raise the question the injustice of Palestinian statelessness. He reminds us through Avram's mother and Golda Meir that the Israeli's were trying to make the rest of the world atone for another of history's gravest injustices: the Holocaust and through the CIA connection that America has been bound-up in that injustice from its beginning (Versailles and the failure of the League of Nations). Speilberg's message is that injustice begets injustice begets injustice. It is made clear at the end when Avram stands on the Brooklyn shore and tells Ephraim that the "wild justice" (Susan Jacoby's term) of uncontrolled and passionate vengence and revenge create a never-ending cycle of injustice -- having brought the point home through the disturbing montage of inter-cut sex and death in the penultimate sequence. The camera pulls back and we see a digitally-altered New York skyline featuring the Twin Towers as the credits roll. Speilberg doesn't flinch from telling us that revenge is a natural human emotion and that revenge is a key component of justice -- but he made this film to remind us our justice (and vengeance) must be rational and directed only toward the guilty. Munich is a work of true genius whose subtlety has been lost on most of the published reviewers.
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