Sword of Gideon
|
List Price: Our Price: $9.29 You Save: $0.69 (7%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $4.43 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Sword of Gideon
Movie Review: Excellent factual account
Summary: 5 Stars
Very well pieced together and acted. Esp. the father of the lead character. You could just sense his earlier involvement with Mossad. Much better than the later Munich which was overdone, overacted, and not believable.Movie Review: very good!
Summary: 5 Stars
far better than Munich, this movie give you more deatil about the main charecter Avner. exelent if you liked Munich then this you would like even more!Movie Review: The forerunner, almost a first draft, of "Munich"
Summary: 4 Stars
My understanding is that Spielberg based the more recent film "Munich" on the same book that this HBO film from 20 years earlier was based on, which would account for the eerily similar, almost identical, sequence of events and character development. What I found dumbfounding is that not only are the story, the characters, and the incidents the same, but the sequence, some of the scenes, even some of the dialogue, are nearly identical: the early recruitment scene with Golda Meir eating fruit and pouring tea, Avner having bad dreams, the cut-away to exterior shots when explosions happen inside buildings, etc. Munich was a tighter and slightly shorter film and it has Spielberg's panache. "Munich" also has a post-9/11 sensibility that this earlier film of course could not have had. This film is somewhat less conflicted than "Munich" is about good vs evil, revenge vs justice. There is psychological conflict in this film, but we have no doubt about who the good guys and the bad guys are.
This is a bit easier to watch because the gore and violence are circa 1986 HBO, not 21st century for the big screen. The acting, dialogue,and details are serviceable,not with the same subtlety or interest as in the later film.
Despite the wig and prosthetic facial changes, I didn't buy Colleen Dewhurst as Golda Meir for one second, and she didn't even try to change her voice or accent.
The film quality seemed a bit washed out to me. The DVD has no features; the choices are either Play film, or Scene selection.
Movie Review: Very interesting movie about a true story
Summary: 4 Stars
I think this is a fascinating movie. It is based on a true story and I think it should be watched because it is about fighting terrorism, a major American and global issue of our time.
The movie takes place in the seventies or eightees. Sword of Gideon was a famous covert operation of the Mossad, the Israeli secret service, to find and kill terrorists hiding in various European countries who were responsible for previous terrorist attacks that killed civilians, particulary the attack on Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972.
A group of agents, led by an IDF officer named Avner, is sent to Europe to locate and kill the terrorists. The terrorists are hiding throughout different cities including Rome, Paris, and others. Each of the agents has special skills. One is an expert in making explosive devices, another in creating documentation, another is a former race car driver (getaway expert), and another is a good agent for securing the scene.
At first, the mission is going well but as time goes on, the agents are somehow being discovered and also killed off one by one while also killing the terrorists.
At the end, relations between Avner and the Mossad deteriorate as the issue is raised: was all the bloodshed worth it.
Movie Review: Well made and exciting
Summary: 4 Stars
This film is a fictionalized account of the story of (one of) the Mossad teams which was sent globetrotting in pursuit of the Black September terrorists who massacred 11 Israeli athletes in the Olympic Village of the 1972 Munich Olympic games.
By fictionalized, I mean that the team members and the exact methods and locations for the assassinations probably do NOT match reality. The factual elements in the film are the Munich massacre, Golda Meir's directive to hunt the terrorists down, the names of the main Black September members involved, etc.
The film deals with the struggle to maintain sanity and humanity while fighting against those who lack decent amounts of each. The film is quite effective in showing the unbearable tension these men deal with in their jobs and how even the slightest mistake can be deadly.
The opening of the film has, in my opinion, some slightly poor production values. It is apparent that NOT a large section of the film's budget went into this section. Afterwards, though, it looks and flows very well.
The actors all do a good job in their roles. The direction is taut, the action strong, and the music is fabulous.
Just hope that the DVD transfer is a good one.