Well, I agree with you on Crash. And I never understood Spielberg. I can't say I was crazy about any of his movies. I didn't care for the Jurassic Park series, the same goes for Indies. Jaws was just okay. He has that sense of pure black and white in most of his movies, which doesn't go so well with my taste most of the times.

Here though he maintained to stay clear from taking sides. I find what you put as being "politically numb" to be a plus, when you make a movie that's bound to be politically sensitive. The subject matter is purely humane; it has nothing to do with politics. It is a take on vengence, and what it does to some people.

I believe the Character "Steve" didn't feel much anyway, before or after what they went through. Maybe many professional assassins are like that. But their story has not a philosophical point. And I totally disagree that you would put it down as philosophically inept. If anything, the film was pure philosophy. It is about what happens to you when you take a life, justified or not. It takes you to show how you end up on the floor of your bedroom closet, and I did at the end of the movie; so I think it made the point beautifully, at least IMHO.