on December 23, 2005 by Ray Greene Given its pedigrees and
incendiary subject matter, Steven Spielberg's "Munich" is a
shockingly mediocre and schematic movie. Directed by Spielberg
from a script co-authored by "Angels in America" playwright Tony
Kushner, "Munich" is only the latest in a line of topical
commentaries from the most successful filmmaker in movie
history. Three of the last four Spielberg films have been
cautionary tales about post-9/11 America: "Minority Report,"
with its nightmare vision of preemptive justice in the name of
personal security; "The Terminal," which used that most altered
of environments, the American airport, as a microcosm for a
fable about America's post-terrorist fear of outsiders; and "War
of the Worlds," which repainted H. G. Wells' layered societal
canvas as a tightly-focused portrait of an epic catastrophe's
impact on a single American family.  With "Munich," Spielberg
has finally opted to confront the issues he's been addressing
obliquely with a more direct approach. The