Munich - Seems like it took a couple of months

I took time to go to the movies today so now all my readers will be treated to my insightful review. Went to the Birmingham 8 on Old Woodward here in Michigan. 12:45 showing of Munich. Packed theater. Had my own private "directors chair of one" that reclined back. Spielberg...One of my favorites. Seen ALL of his movies. Yes ALL. Eric Bana last saw him in the Hulk which I actually liked. The topic on the surface seemed fairly interesting. I went in to this movie just waiting to love it and all the stars were aligned but unfortunately it was as Jon Stewart would say "Uhm uhh not so good." First of all why can't a director make a two hour movie anymore. This movie comes in at 2:45 minutes and it felt like four. I can count on one hand the number of times I've enjoyed a movie that's over 2:30 minutes and I don't know if modern directors are really full of themselves or surrounded by Yes Men or think we are dumb but this movie could have been under two hours and been a lot better. And that is the essence of why this movie was not so good. Spielberg does not tell us one thing NEW in this movie nor does he do anything new as far as cinematography to justify its length. The performances are average and the plot is kind of boring. There is nothing really that interesting here. Yes it is certainly topical but no one will really be changed or enlightened here. The plot is basically a revenge story. The Israeli government seeks revenge for the 72 Munich kidnapping and murders. They hire Avner (Eric Bana) to assemble a gang to do it. They globetrot all over Europe killing Palestinians who were involved. Throughout the story we meet Palestinians and also get into the characters of these Jewish guns for hire. They both talk of homeland and god and family. And of course we meet the stereotypical French nationals Neutral self preserving mobsters/farmers who celebrate cheese and top secret information. Whatever. We are also supposed to be enlightened by such HEAVY HANDED DIALOGUE that you would have to be an idiot to miss THE MEANING OF THIS MOVIE. Por example there's this Frenchman who invites Avner to his farm to share a meal. While cooking they hold their hands up to eachothers and complain about how they have big hands which are too big for cooking. This line then follows. "We are tragic men. We have hands of butchers but gentle souls." PUKE. YA GET IT. GET IT EVERYONE. Killing is bad. We are all killers. But we are all the same. The same. Killers kill for a reason. Every man has his raison huh ha huh. Then we are treated to endless dialogue about Palestinians and Israelis are involved in an endless war and are equally guilty. BORING. Imagine 2 hours and 45 minutes of this. Not to mention camera tricks that he recycled from Private Ryan. I mean this was a 2 hour and 45 minute clumsy way of saying "An eye for an eye leaves both blind". Which took me 10 seconds to type and five seconds for MLK to say it like 40 years ago. Okay Okay Let me calm down and say something nice. There was this scene where Avner is walking on the boardwalk along a beach in Israel. As he walks we see all these people going about their fun and vacations and their lives while these horrible deeds are being planned. It was clever without being over the top and it LOOKED AWESOME. It was actually a BRILLIANT scene and it was SO well filmed. There was this background of people flying by that looked like they stepped out of a Renoir impressionist painting. It was very very cool. Yes there were some really nice moments like this in the movie...That's what makes the length and hackneyed parts of this movie so tragic. Spielberg has a great mind and he is a man of vision...But his last two movies (war of the worlds) have seriously fallen flat. So overall I would give this like a C+ or maybe even a B-. Anyway...Tonight I'm going to see Syriana...Great director..Great actors..Set in the middle east. Hmmm. On second thought maybe I'll just go see the new Jenifer Aniston flick.