Tozerboy

In the last week I’ve seen three films that have a lot in common, The Constant Gardener, Syriana and last night I watched Munich. I can’t say I loved Munich.

All three films have a great deal in common. The subject matter of course, the effects of post colonialism, the twisting plots, murder death and mayhem. Also many of the characters have a nagging fear that while they are working for a cause, they are missing the truth. It’s practically an epidemic in Munich. Each film plays with time too. In Syriana, Director Stephen Gaghan, does a great job of using parallel action, of moving the cascading story into it’s inevitable climax. While he used the same technique in Traffic, and I suppose one could say he should be more original, I thought the trick worked better in Syriana.

In The Constant Gardener, Fernando Meirellesa uses a sort of objective, flashback technique that is very effective. And except for the Hollywood ending, I thought the film seemed reminiscent of the ’70’s conspiracy thrillers, like The Parallax View, The Conversation, or Three Days of the Condor. The cast was great and Ralph Fiennes finally redeemed himself in my eyes, I didn’t think that was possible, (see Red Dragon).

Munich….. Munich, Munich, Munich, what can I say? I just didn’t get it. I mean I got it, but I felt gypped. I invested a great deal of time, and thought it was going somewhere. I think it was repetitive and slow. Yes it showed the futility of an “Eye for an eye,” mentality especially when used by a government, but I got that pretty early in the film. “For this, I spent two and half hours?” The cast was great, and I often think that actors in Spielberg films are flat. They weren’t in this, I’ll give him that. And Ciarán Hinds, was amazing.

The climax, or false climax, or forced climax, was off putting to me. It was juvenile. The protagonists ultimate realization of the hollowness of his actions is realized during sex. That’s about number four on the list of film school clichés, The Conjugal Climax. In the end, I think it was the end that pissed me off, and made me write this. I knew where Spielberg was going the minute, I saw the opening frames of the last scene. I knew is going to be the last scene and knew where it was going to end. I groaned out loud. I think it was cheap and easy to end the film with a skyline shot of Manhattan, with the WTC in the background. It’s pretty easy to foreshadow an event four years after it happens.