München

A narrative and audiovisually very good historical film that combines real events with fictional ones. But while the former are at least interesting, the latter not so much. As long as Munich – The Edge of War tries to be a political reconstruction, it works very decently thanks to Jeremy Irons in the lead role, but as soon as it wants to become a spy thriller, the whole thing stutters. It's not suspenseful, interesting or entertaining, and the ending, which contradicts everything written by history and the film itself, is already a regular slap in the face to the viewer, and completely unnecessary. (2022.01.26)

The film is as cold as a dog's snout and lacks tension in many places, which one would expect in a spy drama. Many people have already written about the unfortunate choice of casting Adolf Hitler's character. Hitler was at the peak of his popularity and his physical and mental strength at that time, and he had nothing in common with the Nosferatu vampire presented in the film. On the other hand, Jeremy Irons is exactly right in the role of Chamberlain, but I'm afraid that's the only thing that will stick in the memory of viewers in the long term. Personally, I don't like it when foolishness like an SS officer attacking a member of the British diplomatic mission at the summit meeting during the Munich conference appears in a realistically-looking historical drama, on which the attention of the world public was focused. That person could consider himself extremely lucky if he ended up only in a concentration camp and not directly in front of the firing squad. Overall impression: 55%. (2022.02.23)

All the exteriors and interiors were excellent — it was all beautifully filmed. But was it worth more than two hours of my time? I'd argue not. What this film portrayed can only be described as a disgrace. Neville Chamberlain walked out of negotiations with the Fuhrer looking like a complete fool, but somehow the film's creators managed to turn his cowardice, arrogance, and lack of judgment into a glowing testament during a single airplane dialogue. / Lesson learned: One would hope there's a lesson here, but it seems people are endlessly resistant to learning. (2024.03.30)

This amounts to confusing revisionism that, while based on real events, is helped mightily by the symbolic license of a trio of young protagonists who embody both illusion and common sense. The problem is that the historical context is at the level of war for dummies and the fictional line with the classified document (passed on directly during the conference) is boilerplate and not very well thought out. The result is at times suspenseful, rarely charismatic, yet strangely endeavoring to avoid responsibility in its historical tone, as it simultaneously indicts (false hopes) and excuses (there was no other way to do it at the time). Munich and the bells and whistles of Sudetenland come off as the mechanical backdrop of a sexless spy story. The basic message of "there were good, moral people on both sides" is nice, but it is also completely thin and without any reverberation. While Schwochow tries to kinetically speed things up and get the characters going, that doesn't make this scheme any more human... The Golden Crown. (2022.02.06)