At the Theater - "The Monuments Men" - Imagine a well-rounded 6 hour TNT miniseries pared down to a relatively anemic 118 minutes, covering events and characters at a bare minimum- that's exactly what The Monuments Men feels like. There's painfully little depth or character development with little to no palpable tension to speak of- the film is edited with a weed-whacker, visually uninspired and ultimately rather cheap-looking - it's listed as having a $70 million budget, though it sure looks like half of that.
Based on the non-fiction book, "The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History", by Robert M. Edsel, the film features George Clooney as the leader of an allied group know as the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section that was tasked with rescuing various pieces of art and architecture from Hitler's clutches during World War II.
The film's impressive cast also includes Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Jean Dujardin (The Artist), John Goodman, Bob Balaban (Close Encounters Of The Third Kind) and Hugh Bonneville (PBS's Downtown Abbey) as the unlikely team of artists, art historians and museum curators assembled to comprise the group, while Cate Blanchette co-stars as the French art historian and resistance member who aides them in their efforts. Everyone's solid across the board, though the shallow, almost topical nature of the narrative renders the film a hollow experience. Clooney, also acting as Director here, shortchanges what could have been a highly interesting, important tale time and time again.
Don't expect much war-time footage or elaborate action here- there's relatively few shots fired and although a couple of team members are killed in their efforts, the filmmakers have chosen to shy away from the gruesome realities of war in yet another tame, early-year PG-13 release. There's a few nice pieces of conversation and a few amusing moments, though I was never enthralled and can't remember laughing or even chuckling out loud at any point.
I can think of only one five minute sequence where I felt any emotion towards this film, and even that is based upon a pretty far-fetched notion. That segment involves one of the group's family wishing him a Merry Christmas via a recorded message on a vinyl record, complete with his daughter and grand children singing "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" over the camp's loudspeakers- it's all well and good until you consider that this plays out at the Battle Of The Bulge and while our choked-up hero is taking a hot shower, no less... C'Mon, Man!
My call is to skip it in theaters and wait for a rental if you absolutely must- all things considered, it's a prime example of wasted talent and a substantial personal disappointment.
For a vastly superior experience concerning similar subject matter, be sure to check out John Frankenheimer's 1964 WWII film, The Train- it's the right thing to do.
The Monuments Men - 6.0 out of 10
Director: George Clooney
Cast: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, Dimitri Leonidas and Cate Blanchette
Run-Time: 118 minutes
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for some images of war violence and historical smoking
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