Picking up fresh off his release of War of the Worlds, Steven Spielberg got working on another project, Munich. And despite its rushed production, it is a gem.

The story revolves around Avner and a team he leads, that is charged by the Israeli government to covertly destroy those responsible for the Munich Olympics tragedy following the event. The group treks around Europe for months hunting and systematically assassinating each member as they go, running into the tribulations of the difficulties it brings for their personal lives.

This historical fiction piece does go to such lengths to show us the actual Munich hostage situation, but it is dispersed into parts throughout the film, intercut with the killing of those responsible for the attacks. It was a well acted film, Eric Bana served the best performance of his career from this film, with Geoffrey Rush and Daniel Craig in supporting roles. It had enough thrilling scenes to provide entertainment, but dramatic effect to hook the audience, and a tender script to deal with the political and historical issues in a respectable manner. Complaints to be filed against it could be that it is gruesome in a few parts, as well as being somewhat tedious and "dragged out" near the end (a seeming trend in some of Spielberg's works). In the end, it plays out with a sense of neutrality on the subject matter (despite a jewish director), and ultimately serves as, as Steven said himself, a "prayer for peace".

This like many of the films this season, are a venerable movie-going experience worth the money. If you want to escape the lines of Narnia and Kong, or just see a marvelously executed drama, as well as reflection on current events, here is a movie to see, but leave the kids at home.