The Monuments Men

The first of its kind, sort of

"The Monuments Men" follows a group of men called The Monuments Men, assembled by Frank Stokes (George Clooney). Their mission is to protect and return artwork stolen by the Nazis in WWII before it is destroyed by the losing side (or by our side with a bunch of bombs). In Frank's ragtag group he has assembled the best and brightest of certain fields to catalog. as well as return the artwork, including: James Granger (Matt Damon), Richard Campbell (Bill Murray), Walter Garfield (John Goodman), Jean Claude Clermont (Jean Dujarden), Donald Jeffries (Hugh Bonnevile), Preston Savitz (Bob Balaban), and Sam Epstein (Demetri Leonidas). They are to be met with many trials and tribulations on their path, even from their own side. Will they protect an entire culture through the art that is left behind?

The story line in this movie appealed to me when I first heard about it. I knew with the cast (and the overall feel of the film) that I would not be getting treated to a movie with a lot of explosions and fire fights. I wasn't disappointed in that aspect. I was more so disappointed with the quality of the film. I feel like there were just too many holes for me to say that the story line was perfect (or even good). Donald Jeffries' arc had the most appeal to it, but they spent the least amount of time covering it. He had some tragic thing that happened to him in the past, ruining his career (and driving him to drink), and it drove me insane that we never found out what it was. I would have liked it if they spent more time on the families of the men, but I guess that would be a little too much to ask for since there were eight of them. An even more annoying part was when they covertly put in a love story between James Granger, and some French art nut. I'm not saying it was annoying because it was a love story, I'm saying it was annoying because it seemed so unnecessary and out of place. Like its soul purpose was to prove how much of a "stand up guy" James was. Any part that had John Goodman, or Bill Murray and Bob Balaban bantering to each other was gold on the screen; although they seemed to just glimpse by the emotional fall out from loosing men. The entire movie felt like it was rushed for time, and didn't want to concentrate too much on one thing (unless that thing is not cheating on your wife). I do have to respect them for making another country the enemy in a WWII movie besides Germany (it was Russia, by the way). I also have to give the movie another nod of approval for putting me on the edge of my seat during one of the final scenes. I got really emotionally invested in one of the statues, which is enough for me to call this movie "not a piece of garbage."

I definitely had a problem with the pace of the movie, it was all over the place. They spent so much time on things like the failed love sequence, and so little time on things like families and loss. I just couldn't wrap my head around why they were drawing out somethings. It actually made the movie a little more confusing at the beginning. It dragged down not only the story line, but the entire quality of the film. This isn't to say that the movie was bad necessarily, just needed to be either longer, or more detailed in certain areas and less in others.

The music in this was also off, like they didn't really know what mood to try for, so they just decided to make it into a cartoon. A cartoon with an orchestra mind you, but a cartoon none the less. Actually with cartoons like "What's Opera Doc?" I feel like a lot of cartoons have better music which defines the feelings you are supposed to have during a film, than what they were playing in the background for some of these scenes. During the entire recruiting scene the music didn't know whether it should be comedic and light hearted, or brash and daring. Which would make since if any one of the characters seemed like they were scared to go, and save these works of art. Sadly, this problem really dragged the movie down for me. During the scene in which I got emotionally invested, it wasn't the music that made me emotionally invested, it was the acting.

The acting in this was to be expected from all the actors involved, brilliant. I want to say something like "this is the worst performance I have seen from actor X," but seriously (for the seasoned actors involved) it was just another day at the office. Bill Murray and Bob Balaban played off of each other beautifully. George Clooney and Matt Damon had already worked together, so the scenes they had together gained the same familiar chemistry. It was also nice to see Matt Damn as "not an action star" for once. He was just another one of the boys, giving it an "Ocean's 11" feel (except in this he wasn't a kid, he felt more like a a mature adult). John Goodman never disappoints (yes, that unfortunately includes "Red State"), but it was good to see him trusted with a more militaristic role. The rest of the supporting cast did well enough. I kind of feel like their goal was to emulate someone they saw on "Band of Brothers" (which is always good material to draw off of) and if that is what they were going for, color me impressed.

I call this movie "The first of its kind" because it is the first WWII movie that I have seen where I didn't either love or hate it. It was mediocre. It isn't amazing like "Inglourious Basterds" or "Saving Private Ryan," and it isn't horrible like "Red Tails," it is right in the middle. I know this statement is going to raise a few red flags among my readers, but I have to say there isn't anything out of WWII material I have seen that is just standard. Until now.

Final Verdict: Rent it While the story line wains in some ares, and the music is (kind of) god awful, if you are a fan of any of the heavy hitters in this, you will not be disappointed. At least worth a Redbox or Amazon Instant Video rental to help the box office a little bit. I just feel bad it has to compete with the titan that is "The Lego Movie" right now.