The Monuments Men
2/4
Starring: George Clooney, Matt Damon, John Goodman, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, Cate Blanchett, Jean Dujardin, Hugh Bonneville
Rated PG-13 for Some Images of War Violence and Historical Smoking
George Clooney never takes the easy road. He makes only the projects that he wants to, and few of those outside of the trilogy where he played Danny Ocean are easy sells. He's acted in some unusual movies ranging from "Three Kings" (where he infamously got in a fistfight with the notoriously difficult David O. Russell) to "The American" (unseen by me, although I've heard that it is decidedly not mainstream. "The Monuments Men" was Clooney's fifth outing behind the camera, and having seen all but "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," I have to admire his passion and willingness to be outside the mainstream, but I can't excuse his ability to tell a compelling story.
In an age where the height of our culture is compromised of reality TV, superhero movies and remakes, and Wes Anderson's ego, art needs all the help it can get. Clearly, George Clooney thought so too because he clearly wants to impart on us the value and importance of art, new and old, to our way of life. Unfortunately, Clooney isn't the one to tell it. The story is all over the place, the characters are stick figures, and usually reliable performers give lackluster performances.
World War II is coming to a close. Hitler has been stealing priceless works of art and hiding them until he can build a museum to store them all in. That's the happy version of what's going on at the start of the film. The unhappy version is that art is being destroyed in battle or on purpose by the Third Reich. Fred Stokes (Clooney) wants to save as much of it as he can, believing that society without its culture is meaningless. So with the permission of FDR, he has assembled a group of art historians, museum directors and curators to track down missing art and save it from being lost or destroyed.
The problem with this film is that Clooney is too ambitious. Clooney wants to create an adventure movie about a lovable gang of misfits and underdogs trying to save something bigger than themselves. But there are seven main characters, and developing them into a crew we want to follow across Europe for two hours requires a far defter touch than Clooney possesses. Apart from Clooney and Matt Damon, no one has a lot of screen time (and even Clooney and Damon have trouble anchoring the film). Clooney also wants to get the audience to respect art and ask us what it means to our culture. Unfortunately, the script he co-wrote with his good friend and partner Grant Heslov is paper thin, and he's unable to effectively wed that with the main story. As a result, he resorts to preaching to the point where it's a little insulting. The story feels too simplified. Surely finding millions of pieces of art wasn't as easy as Clooney says it was in this movie. Clooney uses two works of art to provide the film with focus and dramatic tension, but it doesn't really work since the movie moves so fast (it feels like a trailer) and the characters mean nothing to us (it makes sense if you watch the movie).
This is a cast to die for, but surprisingly, no one gives a good performance. Clooney and Damon are flat, and just about everyone else fades into the background. Bill Murray in particular is almost invisible (but it at least got him away from Wes Anderson, if only for a short while). Special mention has to go to Cate Blanchett. Easily one of the best actresses working today, Blanchett has given brilliant performances in just about everything she's been in (the exception being "Notes on a Scandal"). So it would surprise you to learn that she's pretty bad in this role. Whether it's the script or her accent, Blanchett doesn't make her character sympathetic or interesting. In fact, Claire Simone is kind of annoying, and it's fortunate that she's strictly supporting.
I wanted to like this movie. It's not awful by any means, but it is very disappointing.
Starring: George Clooney, Matt Damon, John Goodman, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, Cate Blanchett, Jean Dujardin, Hugh Bonneville
Rated PG-13 for Some Images of War Violence and Historical Smoking
George Clooney never takes the easy road. He makes only the projects that he wants to, and few of those outside of the trilogy where he played Danny Ocean are easy sells. He's acted in some unusual movies ranging from "Three Kings" (where he infamously got in a fistfight with the notoriously difficult David O. Russell) to "The American" (unseen by me, although I've heard that it is decidedly not mainstream. "The Monuments Men" was Clooney's fifth outing behind the camera, and having seen all but "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," I have to admire his passion and willingness to be outside the mainstream, but I can't excuse his ability to tell a compelling story.
In an age where the height of our culture is compromised of reality TV, superhero movies and remakes, and Wes Anderson's ego, art needs all the help it can get. Clearly, George Clooney thought so too because he clearly wants to impart on us the value and importance of art, new and old, to our way of life. Unfortunately, Clooney isn't the one to tell it. The story is all over the place, the characters are stick figures, and usually reliable performers give lackluster performances.
World War II is coming to a close. Hitler has been stealing priceless works of art and hiding them until he can build a museum to store them all in. That's the happy version of what's going on at the start of the film. The unhappy version is that art is being destroyed in battle or on purpose by the Third Reich. Fred Stokes (Clooney) wants to save as much of it as he can, believing that society without its culture is meaningless. So with the permission of FDR, he has assembled a group of art historians, museum directors and curators to track down missing art and save it from being lost or destroyed.
The problem with this film is that Clooney is too ambitious. Clooney wants to create an adventure movie about a lovable gang of misfits and underdogs trying to save something bigger than themselves. But there are seven main characters, and developing them into a crew we want to follow across Europe for two hours requires a far defter touch than Clooney possesses. Apart from Clooney and Matt Damon, no one has a lot of screen time (and even Clooney and Damon have trouble anchoring the film). Clooney also wants to get the audience to respect art and ask us what it means to our culture. Unfortunately, the script he co-wrote with his good friend and partner Grant Heslov is paper thin, and he's unable to effectively wed that with the main story. As a result, he resorts to preaching to the point where it's a little insulting. The story feels too simplified. Surely finding millions of pieces of art wasn't as easy as Clooney says it was in this movie. Clooney uses two works of art to provide the film with focus and dramatic tension, but it doesn't really work since the movie moves so fast (it feels like a trailer) and the characters mean nothing to us (it makes sense if you watch the movie).
This is a cast to die for, but surprisingly, no one gives a good performance. Clooney and Damon are flat, and just about everyone else fades into the background. Bill Murray in particular is almost invisible (but it at least got him away from Wes Anderson, if only for a short while). Special mention has to go to Cate Blanchett. Easily one of the best actresses working today, Blanchett has given brilliant performances in just about everything she's been in (the exception being "Notes on a Scandal"). So it would surprise you to learn that she's pretty bad in this role. Whether it's the script or her accent, Blanchett doesn't make her character sympathetic or interesting. In fact, Claire Simone is kind of annoying, and it's fortunate that she's strictly supporting.
I wanted to like this movie. It's not awful by any means, but it is very disappointing.
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