Directed by: George Clooney
Starring: George Clooney, Matt Damon, John Goodman, Bill Murray, and Cate Blanchett
Plot: A group of art professionals team up to investigate the destruction and theft of art by the Nazis during the end of World War II
Review:
In 1998, Stephen Spielberg made a WWII epic, Saving Private Ryan. It is beyond a doubt, the greatest WWII movie, most likely the greatest war movie, of all time, and I am now afraid that it has done to the war movie what Unforgiven did to the western. It made such a near-perfect example of the genre that also challenged themes and answered questions to leave almost no new ground to cover within the subgenre. If the subgenre is a thesis, Saving Private Ryan is the concluding statement, and all war movies that come after it will be forever compared to it. This is the basic problem of The Monuments Men.
The great Bill Murray
The Monuments Men is based on the true story about a group of art professionals who were collected in the final days of WWII to travel through Europe to retrieve and preserve priceless pieces of art. Hitler had been collecting some of the greatest pieces to house in his own museum, and when push comes to shove, he was going to destroy it rather than lose it. Why, you might say, is that so important? Well, George Clooney says it right in the trailer. “If you destroy their achievements, their history, then it’s as if they never existed.”
I honestly believe that, but it is also kind of sentimental. That seemed to stick in a lot of critics side: that this movie is sentimental about art, honor, and brotherhood. It is also often light-hearted, occasionally funny, and effectively (if just mildly) adventurous. These are the descriptions of negative reviews. That’s hard for me to believe. It lacks Saving Private Ryan’s blue-tinted sorrow, but it’s not Saving Private Ryan. It is a very charming and fun time at the movie theater, better than most February releases. The only thing that even slightly confuses me is that it was once being groomed as an Oscar hopeful. I think that really skewed peoples’ idea of what this movie was supposed to be.
The movie is still far from perfect. George Clooney brings together one kickass cast to lead, and I was really excited to see them work together. I couldn’t wait to see comic legend Bill Murray facing off against John Goodman, who isn’t a slouch in the comedy department himself. Or Matt Damon, whose sense of humor is underrated, or Bob Balaban, who is just simply underrated, acting along side them. Unfortunately, Clooney spreads these guys around. They don’t really spend that much time as one cohesive group. The pairings are very good (except for Damon who is stuck placating Cate Blanchett in a very thankless role), but I have a hard time thinking they wouldn’t be better off as a team.
The hype is pretty much saying that this movie crashed and burned leaving no trace of a good movie. I beg to differ. Clooney has constructed a very enjoyable adventure and a touching love letter to art. It is true that the sense of danger could be higher and the love letter could be more compelling, but if you manage your expectations, you’ll have a good time.
Rating: 7/10
