Monuments Men, The (2014)
THE SCOOP
Director: George Clooney
Cast: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin
Plot: An unlikely World War II platoon is tasked to rescue art masterpieces from Nazi thieves and return them to their owners.
Genre: Action / Biography / Drama
Awards: -
Runtime: 118min
Rating: PG for some images of war violence and historical smoking.
IN RETROSPECT
(Guest Review by Christian O. Acevedo)
“If you destroy their achievements, their history, it’s like they never existed.”
The
Monuments Men, based on a non-fiction novel written by
Robert M. Edsel, is decked with top Hollywood stars that makes a decent effort
in telling the story of a team of art oddities and their efforts to save a millennia
worth of precious masterpieces such as sculptures, books, paintings and
monuments.
Adorned by the charm of George Clooney, wittiness of Bill
Murray, and the caring charisma of John Goodman, this piece successfully
submerges the audience into the journey of these men’s struggles to save the
greatest achievements of mankind.
However, with all the abundant production quality that this film
brings, Clooney’s effort to bring this story to life can be both frustrating
and unsettling. Due to hefty amount of
leading characters, the story did not fully indulged us in all of them enough
to care much about them. We also come to find out that the action genre does
not fit very smoothly with fine arts. Subsequently, the “Disney” treatment of
the “feel good” approach mixed with drama is what keeps us in disarray
throughout the story.
This story is certainly one that has to be told for the younger
generations to appreciate fine art a bit more and also understand why it was
important to fight for these treasures during the world’s darkest hour. But the film itself although entertaining and
educational in its own right, does not leave you with a full appreciation of
the actual “Monuments Men” that served and died while protecting these pieces
of art.
Verdict: Great performance by cast members, but story
was not fully developed for the characters, and plot could have used a bit more
grittiness and realism to convey the story for this action drama film.
Rating: 3 stars
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