Title: The Monuments Men
Director: George Clooney
Based on: The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel with Bret Witter
In theaters: February 7, 2014 from Columbia Pictures
Genre: Action-Adventure
Rating: PG- 13
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
The Monuments Men is not the type of movie I would usually watch, but both David and my mom wanted to see it, and Amber wasn’t against it. I tend to avoid war movies and tear-jerkers and I was afraid this one would fall into both categories, but it was billed as an action-adventure, which gave me hope. “Drama” would have made me worried. And the cast is fabulous, Clooney, Goodman, Murray, Damon.
Turned out I really enjoyed it. It’s not getting the best reviews, but I liked the relative lightness of it. It could have been heavy and sad, but it wasn’t a “serious” movie. This group of misfits is trying to save art from the Nazis. To them, it’s about saving the culture and it matters.
If it wasn’t for Clooney’s monologues reminding us of the point, it could have almost been like MASH. It has funny moments, poignant moments that don’t actually push me over the line into tears (until like the last scene). I wasn’t too worried that the characters I liked were going to end up dead even when Damon was standing on a landmine, although not all of the team makes it through til the end of the film. There were a couple of times when I was a little upset at them for feeling the need to spell out the joke. There’s one scene where one character says he’s surprised the other can read a certain piece of paper. The other guy says it’s in English. The first guy says, “I know.” I wish it had stopped there instead of going on to add “I just didn’t know you could read.” A silly complaint maybe, but it happened several times. The joke was funny, we didn’t need the explanation.
Overall, it was fun – a bit of history, a couple laugh-out-loud moments, a rather weak attempt at a romance subplot, but you’re rooting for these guys. At least I was. It could also lead to some good discussions about the value of art and about WW2 in general. And it’s a good war movie for those of us who don’t like war movies.
You might even say it was a caper– an amusing or far-fetched story, esp. one presented on film or stage. (We were talking about capers at dinner afterward.)
I did not read all of your review, because I like to go into a movie knowing as little as possible. I am looking forward to seeing this… when it is available on disc, and I am glad you enjoyed it. I just saw a documentary from 2006 called The Rape of Europa, about the art (including architecture) stolen and damaged during World War II, and it featured some of the real monuments men, and got me excited about both the book and the movie.
I actually just heard about that documentary. I bet it’s interesting.
I want to see this movie and read the book. I’m glad to see it’s good!
I’ll watch it one day
I can’t wait to see it, hopefully before it leaves the theaters. I’m doing a readalong for War Through the Generations with Serena later this year. Probably the one time I read the book after the movie, lol.
I liked it but wish it had been serious or a comedy. To me it felt more like a comedy that was trying to be a drama. Caper works as a description but even that kind of undermines what they were trying to accomplish. I loved the cast! Bill Murray was at his best – wish there had been more of him.
I’ve heard the book was excellent. Maybe I should read it.