YMMV / Munich

• Alternate Character Interpretation: Both In-Universe and in real-life, people debate whether the first two targets, Zwaiter and Hamshari, are actual terrorists involved in the Olympic massacre or peaceful pro-Palestinian Arabs who were scapegoated by Mossad.
• Aluminum Christmas Trees:
  • During the opening, the West German police attempt a rescue at the Olympic Village, only to call it off when it's pointed out that the terrorists are watching their approach on the news. This actually happened during the crisis.
  • It is also mentioned that the Army is unable to assist due to "complicated laws." The (then-West) German constitution forbids the Army from operating on German soil during peacetime, which is why they were unable to directly move against the terrorists.
• Anvilicious: The final shot is of the New York skyline circa-1970s, including the World Trade Center.
• Award Snub: Lost the Academy Award for Best Picture to Crash. There aren't quite as many people angry about Munich losing as much as Brokeback Mountain, but there still are many...
• Awesome Music: John Williams strikes again! The main theme in particular stands out in the many ways Williams applies it.
• Critical Dissonance: Compared to great reviews and the presence in year-end lists and the awards circuit, audiences were not as enamoured, with the film not managing to turn a profit at the box office and its IMDb score being not as high as Spielberg's previous Oscar contenders.
• Funny Moments: Steve and one of the PLO members having an increasingly tense, but non-verbal confrontation over the radio—Steve wants to listen to French music, the PLO guy wants to listen to Middle Eastern music. The two appear legitimately ready to kill each other over the issue until Steve finally selects a station playing classic Motown music and the two legitimately smile and nod in agreement.
• He Really Can Act: After about five years of average projects, Eric Bana finally gets a chance to make good on and even surpass the potential promised by Chopper.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • This film features three James Bond films actors: a future Bond (Daniel Craig, Bond from 2006 to 2021), as well as a former (Michael Lonsdale, Hugo Drax in Moonraker) and later (Mathieu Amalric, Dominic Greene in Quantum of Solace) Bond villain. Even funnier, the latter two are both French and play father and son, and the former and the latter face off in Quantum of Solace.
    • Funnier still is the fact that Daniel Craig's role is playing a government assassin a year before he would play the ultimate government assassin.
  • During his brief scene, Moritz Bleibtreu mentions the RAF (Red Army Faction) and Baader-Meinhof. He later appeared in The Baader Meinhof Complex as Andreas Baader himself.
• Narm: Near the end of the film, Avner seemingly has a vision/flashback/what have you of the deaths at Munich while having sex with his wife—this is the last of several such scenes in which Avner thinks about the events at Munich, despite the fact that Avner can't possibly know what actually happened, making it all a bit strange. What makes the scene even more Narmish is that he climaxes when he imagines their actual deaths, making the viewer assume that's what gets him off.
• One-Scene Wonder: The two Israeli athletes who escape during the terrorist raid (one by smashing a window and the other by fleeing through a parking garage) are immensely memorable and easy to get invested in. The same is true of their two teammates who are killed while trying to resist the terrorists.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • If you hadn't already recognized Ciarán Hinds from his other HBO show, Rome (or his 20 years of other roles), you'll retroactively recognize him as Mance Rayder on Game of Thrones.
  • Speaking of Game of Thrones, Tom Wlaschiha (Jaqen H'ghar) appears as a West German reporter during the opening.
• Signature Scene:
  • The young girl picking up the phone, which has a bomb hidden in it, and the team rushes to abort. It was included in a number of trailers to emphasize the film's suspense.
  • The death of the female assassin is one of the best-remembered scenes in the movie due to how visceral and emotionally uncomfortable it is, epitomising the film's central theme about the futility of revenge.
  • The flashback sequences depicting the Munich Massacre. The incident is accurately recreated in film as it occurred in real-life. It’s harrowing, tense, violent, disturbing, and it perfectly conveys the sheer terror felt by everyone during the actual event.
• Tear Jerker:
  • The deaths of the Israeli athletes as seen in the flashbacks certainly serve as such, as does the subsequent death and murder of each member of the team.
  • Robert's distraught Armor-Piercing Response about how he trained to disarm bombs, not detonate them, as he's being criticized over issues with his latest device. Really, all of Robert's scenes questioning the morality of what they're doing, up to his eventual departure from the team, and his murder soon afterward.
  • Ephraim refusing Avner's invitation to his house, who he feels has abandoned his nation after Avner has become completely disillusioned with the purpose behind all of the blood he was asked to shed and now can no longer bring himself to return to Israel.
  • Avner's reminder to Ephraim that nothing they've done has stopped the cycle of violence that led to the Munich massacre, and that worse is surely coming regardless of what they do; as the men part ways, our final view of New York City comes to focus upon the newly-completed World Trade Center.

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