The Monuments Men

By: Robert Murphy

How to best describe The Monuments Men if I had to put it into a few words? I would have to describe it as a puzzle with all the right pieces but it somehow came out as the opposite of the picture on the box. The story takes places during World War II shortly after the storming of the beaches at Normandy and puts the question in your head of “who will save the culture and art work of man kind in this bloody and terrifying war.” Perhaps my favorite line in the film has to be from George Clooney as he states “You can wipe out an entire generation of people but if you take away the art work and burn away its culture, it can’t be replaced, it’ll just be ash.” And so at the request of George Clooney’s character and with permission from the President of the United States a team is put together with the task of protecting the remaining pieces of art from being destroyed by the Germans as the war comes to a close.

The Monuments Men is a film that sends George Clooney and his merry men into war stricken Europe and the cast list reads Matt Damon, Bob Balaban, John Goodman, Bill Murray, Hugh Bonneville and Jean Dujardin who all play various expert in a field of art in the era. When you hear these names though they are the last people you would imagine in a war film due to age and generally being well pudgy men but that’s okay because they fit the gambit for cultural aristocrats quite well. And perhaps one of the movies best qualities is too point this fact out, that aside from Matt Damon and Jean Dujardin, these are out of shape men going into a war zone and they themselves can’t help but marvel at the situation. While these men do find themselves in a dangerous situation once or twice throughout the film, there is quite a bit of chuckling and amusement as these men are from art circles and know one another in some shape or form and poke fun at their discernable characteristics. What touched me most about the film had to be the art work itself, I am in no way an art scholar and if someone said lets spend the day at the art museum I’d most likely get smashed before hand. But all the pieces that appear on screen from sculptures to portraits and more were all very beautiful and an incredible sight, it really makes you enjoy the premise of the film even more as these men set out to preserve these masterpieces.

Now unfortunately things don’t continue to hit me at a high note as the story proceeds to go on a serious of miss adventures with its cast. Through a sizeable portion of the movie Matt Damon’s character is sent to Paris where he must convince a friend of the resistance there, Cate Blanchette, to reveal where stolen pieces of art were sent when the Germans pulled out. This was a forced romantic entanglement that went on for the longest time and when it reached its climax it soured me even more and not even Matt Damon’s charm could save it. The film also adds other non important scenes as well with the land mine moment where Matt is stuck standing on a mine while the other Monument Men try and devise a way to get him off it without losing his legs. This took fifteen unnecessary minutes away from the screen and was suppose to be a touching moment I realize but it just wasn’t.

All in all, The Monuments Men amounts to a film that had the right players but it never was given shape, it amounted to an assortment of misadventures with some chuckles thrown in. The films quality cast is really one of the things that holds it up especially John Goodman who in the first scene of the Monument Men going through basic training makes you laugh as he chuckles about training with teenage men at his age. In my mind I just wish that the film had chosen one direction and stuck with it but you had the moments with Matt Damon in Paris and then George Clooney who starts strong but ends up obsessing over a piece of art for the better portion of the film. Still there are those good witted and heart warming moments you will love along the way and of course the incredible pieces of art you see as well, so you’re left in a middle area with The Monuments Men.

Good:

- A great premise for the film and an even better setting

- The incredible master pieces that the movie shows off make even a non art goer like me think they’re amazing

- A truly stellar cast but not all of them will hit their high points such as Matt Damon

Bad:

- The film lumbers about on many misadventures and lacked a shape and direction

- Matt Damon’s ill gotten adventures in Paris felt too long and forced 

- Many unnecessary scenes were put in the film and make you question why they are there

Scully Rating: 5.5 out of 10