Bonding in Munich

[Kara Milovy]

Saw Munich (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0408306/) last night, an amazing movie featuring two major Bond actors, Daniel Craig and Michael Lonsdale (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0003909/).

It's a great movie, 10/10. Sure, there are slight flaws, but overall it is a perfect movie experience; intelligent, disturbing, thrilling, fascinating, thought-provoking, beautifully filmed, wonderfully acted.

Daniel Craig is certainly a fine actor, but I'm still not getting 'the vibe.' And the blond hair really stands out. Like, you're watching a group of men walking and you think "Wow, that guy is very, very blond." He's so visible.

Lonsdale really surprised me. I have never liked his Moonraker performance, or indeed been impressed by anything he did in the 70s. I haven't seen him in a movie in I don't know how long, but he's turned into quite a presence; sort of a French Emilio Ecchevaria. It's kind of too bad he's already been a Bond villain, because he'd make a fabulous villain now; a perfect LeChiffre in fact.

Anyway, neither Craig nor Lonsdale is the star, although both have significant roles. Star Eric Bana does an excellent job (although he overplays the weary routine at the end), and co-stars Ciarán Hinds (who worked with Craig in Road to Perdition) and Geoffrey Rush are both amazing.

[Deacon]

I wouldn't give it 10 out of 10, but it was still a terrific movie. I thought the structure of it - they go after one Palestinian, then another, then another - would get tiresome, but it doesn't, mainly 'cause nobody does suspense/action sequences like Spielberg.

As for Craig... I agree, he's got the talent, but it's difficult to judge what kind of a Bond he'll make. He seems like he'll be more in the Dalton/serious mode than the Connery/Brosnan/twinkle-in-the-eye vein.

And Lonsdale was equally good in a similar role in "Ronin" a few years back.

P.S. on the subject of "Munich", as a Londoner, it cracks me up that the short hand for establishing that a scene is set here is to show a black taxi, a double-decker bus, a red mailbox or a red phone booth. And "Munich" does all four! Bravo!

[Kara Milovy]

P.S. on the subject of "Munich", as a Londoner, it cracks me up that the short hand for establishing that a scene is set here is to show a black taxi, a double-decker bus, a red mailbox or a red phone booth. And "Munich" does all four! Bravo!
That's funny! One of the John Glen director's commentary remarks on how easy it is to establish London; just show the double-decker bus. So I decided to check. There's actually a mini-chapter in my book (http://www.jamesbondfanbook.com) called "London Calling," in which I find out how each appearance of London is established in the Bond films. (BTW, you left out the ultimate classic; Big Ben.)

Ronin has been on my must-see list forever.