---
title: "Munich"
year: 2005
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/munich"
fi1m_id: "munich"
imdb_id: "tt0408306"
tmdb_id: 612
wikidata_id: "Q152456"
fi1m_score: 80
critics_score: 76
critics_reviews: 7
published: "2026-09-15"
updated: "2026-10-06T12:12:43.141496+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Munich (2005)

Directed by Steven Spielberg · 2h 44m · MPA R · Drama, History, Thriller

## Identity

Munich

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/munich
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** munich
- **IMDb ID:** tt0408306
- **TMDB ID:** 612
- **Wikidata ID:** Q152456
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0408306/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/612, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q152456

**Fi1m score: 80** · Critics 76 from 7 reviews

*In a sentence:* We spent far too much time hoping an assassination would go to plan

> Steven Spielberg’s revenge thriller is tense, disturbing and worth the long evening. Eric Bana makes the doubts hurt, even when the screenplay insists on explaining what his performance has already made clear.

## Synopsis

After eleven Israeli athletes are murdered at the 1972 Munich Olympics, an Israeli hit squad sets out on a mission of retaliation. Eric Bana plays Avner, an assassin whose work draws him into questions about violence, duty and the defence of home. Around him are Steve (Daniel Craig), Carl (Ciarán Hinds), Robert (Mathieu Kassovitz) and Hans (Hanns Zischler). As the mission proceeds, the men have to reckon with what carrying out revenge demands of them. Steven Spielberg directs a thriller about the aftermath of the massacre and the choices made in its name.

## Review

Steven Spielberg’s *Munich* is a gripping, troubling thriller that occasionally talks past the point at which we have understood it. Following the murder of eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, it follows an Israeli hit squad on a revenge mission. Spielberg wants us to feel the practical urgency of that work and question the belief that another killing will make anyone safer. He is more persuasive when the men are at work than when the screenplay pauses to spell out the consequences.

Eric Bana gives Avner the conviction the film needs if its doubts are going to hurt. He seems committed to the mission, and questioning it takes an effort that Bana makes us feel. There is no reassuring sense that he has been placed among assassins simply to provide the audience with a decent man to follow. The other members of the squad are less involving as individuals, which leaves him carrying a disproportionate amount of our concern for the people doing the killing.

Janusz Kamiński’s grainy photography helps to make the violence feel dirty and immediate. Michael Kahn’s editing keeps the business of an assassination urgent and legible, so that suspense grows from the work itself. We were frightened, then disturbed by how much we wanted the killings to go to plan. Spielberg has made us concentrate on the success of a mission whose justification we ought to be questioning. Kahn gives those sequences enough momentum that we have little time to congratulate ourselves on having reservations.

Rick Carter’s production design makes the period convincing without inviting us to admire the furnishings. John Williams’s music allows grief to register alongside the tension, and we think that restraint is right for a film already so forceful in its action. These contributions matter because the screenplay keeps returning to the defence of home. The film needs us to understand what the men hope to preserve, or its objections to their methods would come too easily.

The problem is the screenplay by Tony Kushner and Eric Roth, which sometimes puts into speeches what Bana has already made us feel. Its concern with home, protection and revenge is serious, but the dialogue can sound too prepared for the discussion it wants us to have afterwards. Some of these exchanges could have been shorter. The effort to consider the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from more than one position is welcome, even when the characters sound appointed to speak for those positions.

As an assassination thriller, *Munich* is unusually willing to let the work feel exhausting and morally unrewarding. It still relies on our appetite for a well-staged operation, and Spielberg does not pretend that appetite disappears because the subject is grave. We leave the action passages with enough unease to doubt that a cleaner or more efficient mission would solve anything. At 164 minutes, there is time to feel the repetition, even if the length also makes the mission wear on us. Choose it when there is time to sit with the discomfort afterwards.

*Fi1m score 80, published 15 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics regard Munich as an absorbing, morally serious thriller, with praise clustering around Spielberg’s handling of action and his examination of retaliatory violence. The reviews repeatedly commend its refusal to offer easy answers, finding that the Israeli hit squad’s mission allows for sustained questioning of vengeance, loyalty and the defence of home. Eric Bana’s conflicted assassin draws particular praise, while the tense set-pieces and controlled storytelling give the ethical questions dramatic force.

The reservations concern how clearly those questions are expressed and how much feeling the characters generate. Slant finds the moral exploration sometimes didactic, while Screen Daily praises the pace but considers the politics simplistic. Digital Spy notes confusion and emotional distance. The spread is largely favourable, but Variety offers a sharper dissent, finding the characters uninvolving and the storytelling overlong: the principal disagreement is over whether the moral discussion sustains the thriller or slows it down.

## Straight answers

**Is Munich worth watching?**

*Munich* is worth watching for anyone prepared to give a long evening to a tense, disturbing revenge thriller, and we scored it 80. Eric Bana makes Avner's doubts hurt, and the assassination sequences are gripping enough to leave us uneasy about how much we wanted them to succeed. The screenplay sometimes explains what the performances have already shown.

**How long is Munich, and what is it rated?**

*Munich* runs 2h 44m and is rated R by the MPA in the US. It is a drama and history film.

**Where can I watch Munich in the US?**

*Munich* is streaming on Amazon Prime Video in the US, and it is also available to rent from Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV from $3.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is Munich, and is it suitable for children?**

*Munich* is a UK 15 and US R, and it is not suitable for children. The violence is grainy, dirty and immediate rather than glamorous, and the killings are staged to frighten and then disturb. Older teenagers who can sit with a grave subject for 164 minutes will manage; the squeamish should expect the assassinations to feel close.

**How does Munich compare to The Battle of Algiers?**

*Munich* is the more conventional thriller of the two, following a hit squad and letting suspense grow from the work of killing, while [*The Battle of Algiers*](https://film.one/film/the-battle-of-algiers) reconstructs a whole revolt in a documentary style. Pontecorvo's film is the more lucid and harder to bear; Spielberg's gives more time to one man's conscience. Choose *Munich* for character, *The Battle of Algiers* for the sweep of a campaign.

**What should I watch after Munich?**

After *Munich*, try [*The Battle of Algiers*](https://film.one/film/the-battle-of-algiers) (1966, Fi1m 93): Political violence examined through procedures, reprisals and the civilians caught between them. Then [*The Conversation*](https://film.one/film/the-conversation) (1974, Fi1m 92): A surveillance expert discovers how difficult it is to keep work impersonal; and [*The Lives of Others*](https://film.one/film/the-lives-of-others) (2006, Fi1m 84): Surveillance, obedience and private conscience, given time to become painfully entangled.

### Reviews we read (13)

- **Radio Times**, Stella Papamichael (4/5): Violence begets violence in Spielberg's bold thriller about the Israeli hit squad after the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre. It provides a complex moral framework without sensationalism and resists a pat conclusion while resonating with post-9/11 anxieties. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-xe1qj4/munich/)
- **The AV Club**, Scott Tobias (80/100, inferred): The critic calls Munich an electrifying elucidation of the cycle of violence in the Middle East that speaks to turbulent times. It is praised as a fair and morally dignified film that comes down against all nations and groups that perpetuate violence, with technical bravura and a commanding performance by Eric Bana. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/munich-1798201364)
- **Slant Magazine**, Nick Schager (75/100, inferred): The critic describes Munich as a tense, thoughtful film that straddles calls for peace and justifications for war while critiquing vigilante measures. It singles out Eric Bana’s portrayal of a conflicted assassin for praise amid the film’s even-handed but sometimes didactic exploration of moral ambiguities. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/munich/)
- **Screen Daily** (70/100, inferred): It is a bold move for Spielberg to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, resulting in a riveting high-octane thriller with elegant storytelling and brisk pacing. The politics ultimately prove simplistic despite strong performances and grainy realism. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/munich/4025443.article)
- **Time Out**, BW (70/100, inferred): Spielberg acknowledges that defending family and home can yield destruction and evil. The film illustrates the moral that violence begets violence through dramatic ironies and set-pieces while recognizing the appeal of homicidal spectaculars. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/munich)
- **Empire**, Ian Nathan: The film is Spielberg’s most difficult but also one of his strongest: morally ambiguous, lean, intelligent and uncompromised, with a brute hardness that confronts terrible events without easy answers. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/munich-review/)
- **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert: Spielberg questions Israel's policy of full retribution for attacks while affirming deep love for the state; the film is an efficient thriller and a haunting ethical argument about cycles of violence. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/munich-2005)
- **The Guardian**, Philip French: Spielberg delivers a controversial but absorbing thriller about the Israeli hit squad's revenge mission after the 1972 Munich massacre. The film mixes skilled action sequences and moral questioning but is not at the director's best, with some unconvincing elements and Hollywood-style dialogue. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2006/jan/29/philipfrench)
- **The New York Times**, Manohla Dargis: Spielberg forgoes emotional bullying for a tough, anguished look at vengeance between Israelis and Palestinians; the film is a philosophical meditation and nail-biting action movie that invites discussion. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/26/style/tale-of-2-peoples-hands-around-each-others-throats.html)
- **Total Film**: Nothing in Spielberg’s prior work prepares viewers for this bold, shocking and intimate thriller; it is a gruelling, remorseless examination of murky moral questions with no easy answers or compromises. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/munich-review/)
- **Variety**, Todd McCarthy: Spielberg ponders the pointlessness of tit-for-tat retaliation but the film lacks involving characters and economical storytelling; it is a lumpy, overlong morality play rather than a pulse-quickening thriller. [Read](https://variety.com/2005/film/awards/munich-3-1200519762/)
- **Eye for Film**, Angus Wolfe Murray (80/100, inferred): The critic presents Munich as a powerful, thought-provoking study of vengeance, incompetence and betrayal in the world of undercover assassination, with an unusually intelligent screenplay that explores the theme of home and the futility of escalating violence. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/munich-film-review-by-angus-wolfe-murray)
- **Digital Spy**, Daniel Saney (75/100, inferred): The critic finds Munich a tense thriller that examines the cycle of violence and terrorism without bias, though it can be confusing at times and maintains emotional distance from characters. Overall, it's well worth watching for its relevance and engagement. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a28637/munich/)

## Details

- **Director:** Steven Spielberg
- **Director:** Steven Spielberg
- **Screenplay:** Tony Kushner, Eric Roth
- **Cinematography:** Janusz Kamiński
- **Editor:** Michael Kahn
- **Music:** John Williams
- **Production design:** Rick Carter
- **Costume design:** Joanna Johnston
- **Producer:** Steven Spielberg, Colin Wilson, Kathleen Kennedy
- **Cast:** Eric Bana as Avner; Daniel Craig as Steve; Ciarán Hinds as Carl; Mathieu Kassovitz as Robert; Hanns Zischler as Hans; Ayelet Zurer as Daphna; Geoffrey Rush as Ephraim; Gila Almagor as Avner's Mother
- **Runtime:** 2h 44m
- **Certificate (MPA):** R
- **Release (the US):** 6 January 2006
- **Genres:** Drama, History, Thriller
- **Also in:** [Best Picture winners](https://film.one/collections/oscar-best-picture.md) (Nominee, 2005)
- **Budget:** $70 million
- **Box office:** $131 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuT_uh0CAf8

## Where to watch in the US

- Amazon Prime Video: streaming
- Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, hd
- Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy $12.99, hd
- Apple TV: buy $12.99, hd

*Checked 2026-09-15.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- Academy Awards 2006: Best Director (nominated); Best Film Editing (nominated); Best Original Score (nominated); Best Picture (nominated); Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated)

## If you liked this

- *The Battle of Algiers* (1966), Fi1m 93: Political violence examined through procedures, reprisals and the civilians caught between them — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-battle-of-algiers.md)
- *Army of Shadows* (1969): Clandestine work becomes frighteningly practical, with loyalty offering little comfort
- *The Conversation* (1974), Fi1m 92: A surveillance expert discovers how difficult it is to keep work impersonal — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-conversation.md)
- *Paradise Now* (2005): A Palestinian perspective on political killing, with close attention to personal doubt
- *The Lives of Others* (2006), Fi1m 84: Surveillance, obedience and private conscience, given time to become painfully entangled — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-lives-of-others.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/munich