Reviews

Mivtza Yehonatan (or as it is better known around the world, Entebbe Operation), in which the Israeli army managed to take over the Entebbe airport in Uganda, to free all hostages of the kidnapped Air France plane and to bring (almost) everybody home in one piece, is a story told a million times over, was made into a very bad Hollywood action movie and was used as the basis for countless B-movies. This version, however, is unique. To begin with, many of the key characters of the operation (Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin and Yigal Alon, all of whom played key rolls in the decision making process of this operation) were acting as themselves. Secondly, the Israeli army actively participated in the making of the movie, thus making the level of realism higher than most other action movies ever made. Third, Yoram Globus, in his break-through movie (that opened the gates of big-time Hollywood for him) proves that he can direct a good action movie, based on a great story, and coming out on top of his game.

All in all, a great movie to watch.

9 out of 10 in my book-keeping.

Okay, the moment has come. I've re-read the whole LOTR trilogy once again as a preparation for the movie, memorized all the characters and watched the Peter Jackson interview again just to remind myself that no matter how good the director is, the movie version can never reflect the depth, complexity and magic of the original book.

Still, expectations were extremely high as I stepped into Monte Casinos' Premier theatre for the special premier (simultaneously presented with the Premier taking place in London). Even before that, every time I went to the movies and the FOTR preview came on my skin began to crawl, the "One Ring" speech given there just made me want to jump out of chair and scream "SHOW IT TO ME NOW!". Now that the screening is over I can tell you one thing. While it is not an exact representation of the book (and nobody can really expect it to be, because even when they try, the result will be something as unimaginative as the Harry Potter movie..), but it does create the incredible magic and atmosphere of it. The characters are amazingly built, the plot is presented with flawless clarity and the story is done in such a way that you simply cannot imagine how it could have been done any better.

Visual effects, dialogues, acting and music are all combined to create a true master-piece. Not only was I not disappointed, I cannot wait until I go to watch it again (or for X-Mas 2002, for the The Two Towers premier..). If I could, I would give this movie 11 out of 10, since 10 is the maximum, it'll have to suffice..