“Steven Spielberg transforms a serious subject—an historic act of Arab terrorism—into a skillfully arranged horror show, trivializing another example of 20th century barbarism. Recalling the terrorist attack at the 1972 Munich, West Germany, Olympic Games, in which 11 Israeli athletes were seized and murdered, Munich tracks besieged Israel’s response. It makes for a slow motion wreck.”
So I wrote nearly six years ago and I stand by every word of my Munich review, which was recently linked from elsewhere and has caused some controversy. In fact, it’s alternately one of my most reviled and appreciated reviews (others include the Christian propaganda Narnia pictures, 300, which some Objectivsts raved about and I hated as “history hijacked by horror”, and another Objectivist favorite, Serenity, which I found middling at best). Hate mail from 300 “fanboys” was strong, though Judeo-Christian Narnia hate mail was worse (profanity, death threats), but the reaction to the Munich review among readers identifying as Arabs and Moslems was particularly negative. The only other predominant group I heard from was college professors and other intellectuals; they hated my review and worshipped the movie, exactly for the reasons I hate it.
Working on new reviews of Win Win (opens 3/18), Atlas Shrugged Part 1 (limited release 4/15), and In Cold Blood (1968).