Based on the true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history, The Monuments Men is an action drama focusing on an unlikely World War II platoon, tasked by FDR with going into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and returning them to their rightful owners. It would be an impossible mission: with the art trapped behind enemy lines, and with the German army under orders to destroy everything as the Reich fell, how could these guys – seven museum directors, curators, and art historians, all more familiar with Michelangelo than the M-1 – possibly hope to succeed? But as the Monuments Men, as they were called, found themselves in a race against time to avoid the destruction of 1000 years of culture, they would risk their lives to protect and defend mankind’s greatest achievements. From director George Clooney, the film stars George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, and Cate Blanchett. The screenplay is by
Let me say I had high expectations for this movie. If anyone could have brought a historical story to life that most people, certainly I didn’t know about to life, it would be George Clooney. Remember Three Kings (1999) about 4 soldiers during the Gulf War who try to steal back gold that was stolen from Kuwait and then end up helping Kuwaitis in the aftermath of the war, you know he can take story that sounds on the surface, UGH! and make it interesting, funny, tense and have a good story line.
But back to The Monuments Men, first off this is a first rate cast (Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, and Cate Blanchet) who all do a fine job of acting but it just wasn’t enough. Maybe there was too many characters to really get to know the deeply but I really didn’t get why these men would really risk their lives to save art. Yes, they were art historians/restorers and they believed in saving the greatest pieces of art from Hitler but there was no character backstory that made me feel for them.
The story tried to make the finding of the art tense and thriller like but I just wasn’t feeling it.
And the forced storyline between Matt Damon, a married man and Cate Blanchett, a Jeu de Palme worker who imprisoned as Hitler collaborator was creepy and just a waste of film. They made the Blanchett character so stereotypically French in the “French” think differently about sleeping together coupled with the anything can happen in war time theme, made me just annoyed. Did we really think he would sleep with her? No, that would have detracted from the story plus it would have taken away from the holier than thou work he was doing saving art from Hitler.
All in all, I did a learn about a historical moment in World War II, that makes this movie worthwhile as a rental but unless you are a World War II historical buff, I would not spend $14.50 to see it in the theatre.
Finally, seeing this movie, piqued my interest to actually read up on the story and the men who risked their lives to save some the greatest pieces of art that we are able to see to day.
Disclosure: NYC Single Mom received press passes to view The Monuments Men.
