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The Monuments Men
| Released |
14 February 2014 |
| Director |
George Clooney |
Starring
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George Clooney, Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Hugh Bonneville |
| Writer(s) |
George Clooney, Grant Heslov |
| Producer(s) |
George Clooney, Grant Heslov |
| Origin |
United States, Germany |
| Running Time |
118 minutes |
| Genre |
Action, biography, drama |
| Rating |
12A |
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Monumentally dull.
It’s pretty easy to guess what kind of films George Clooney loves from his directorial efforts. While Good Night and Good Luck and The Ides of March channelled the ‘70s political thriller, The Monuments Men is more of an ode to the sweeping, big budget, ensemble cast war epics like A Bridge Too Far and The Longest Day. But more so than any of Clooney’s previous efforts, The Monuments Men plays like a shoddy imitation of the genre it references, and even the most loving fan will be bored long before the end.
The Monuments Men is a men-on-a-mission yarn about the Allied unit tasked with recovering a treasure-trove of art masterpieces stolen by the Nazis at the height of World War Two. But almost immediately it defaults on its premise as a war movie, slipping instead into a caper style jaunt in the style of Ocean’s Eleven, only with historical reverence instead of wry humour. The film is bookended by literal presentations stating the importance of the mission as Frank Stokes (Clooney himself, leading the cast as well as directing) tries to convince President Roosevelt first of the importance of the mission, and afterwards why it was worth doing. The implication couldn’t be any clearer. The Monuments Men is George Clooney’s $50,000,000 high-school history project.
The plot chugs dully along, charting the ins and outs of a true story with far less appeal than an actual history book. The devotion to accuracy robs the film of a clear antagonist, a coherent story arc, or any real conflict at all. The search for stolen art may have been a worthwhile cause, but it is certainly not the basis of a good war movie. When the titular monuments men arrive on a Normandy beach a few weeks after D-Day it seems like a bizarre inverse of Saving Private Ryan – the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and Stokes and his band of merry men stroll gaily off the landing craft without any concern for danger. Actual dramatic tension is replaced by Clooney making repeated speeches on the importance of the endeavour in a woeful violation of the show don’t tell rule.
But the worst thing about The Monuments Men is that it’s very hard to stay mad at it. The ensemble cast – including John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Cate Blanchett and Bill Murray – is just too damn charming to ever truly hate. Even at moments where the film attempts to deal out gravity with references to the holocaust, the cast look like they are having too much fun. And somehow, despite a film that is pretty much just a collection of assorted flaws, this fun is infectious. Despite being a truly abysmal film on paper, it is still difficult to watch The Monuments Men and not crack a smile. It takes some serious post-screening consideration to truly appreciate how bad it is, which surely is an achievement in itself.
- Bernard O’Rourke |
