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
