George Clooney's
The Monuments Men is about as fun as sitting
through a two-hour art history lecture. If that sounds enjoyable to you,
then this is a film worth dropping some coin on, but everyone else will
probably walk away feeling it's somewhat unexceptional. Clooney, who
has always had a fondness for history, whether it's in the
entertainment, sports, or political realm, shows his deep passion for
priceless works of art and utmost respect for the real life WWII unit
tasked with protecting them. But despite an incredible story and an
Ocean's Eleven-inspired cast,
The Monuments Men is cold and lifeless as a statue.
The
problems don't lie with the story, which is adventurous and somewhat
unbelievable in the way the best true stories are. It follows the
Monuments Men, a unit of art curators and historians tasked by President
Franklin Roosevelt to retrieve and protect some of the finest works of
art stolen by that art-lovin' fiend, Adolf Hitler. Clooney gets the
flattest role of all as Frank Stokes, the leader of the group who, after
convincing the President to greenlight his little squad, is pretty much
left to his own devices. So he assembles his unit full art geeks,
sculptors, and curators, but certainly no combatants which could be a
problem out on the battlefield. Bill Murray, John Goodman, Matt Damon,
Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, and Jean Dujardin make up this squad of
misfits, which is put together so hastily that we learn practically
nothing of who they are out of uniform.
It's a problem
that stretches on as the story takes its odd shape. Almost as soon as
the old guys clear basic training, they are immediately separated and
sent to different corners of Europe, killing any momentum and the chance
to build a believable camaraderie. These missions prove to be extremely
random and uninvolved for the most part, and isn't helped by an unsure
tone stuck between harsh reality and Clooney's natural flip sense of
humor. A look back at the film's somewhat troubled production shows
that Clooney has always been concerned about hitting the right tonal
balance, and apparently it's something he never quite mastered. The
brutality of war too often bangs up against moments clearly meant to be
played for laughs, so that when characters pay the ultimate price (it
happens on a couple of occasions), it's tough to take seriously despite
Alexandre Desplat's tear-jerking score telling us to.
Some
of this could be overlooked if there seemed to be any rhyme or reason
to the Monument Men's investigations, but there doesn't seem to be. They
luck into most of their biggest finds and do very little in the way of
research, which is an issue if these are supposed to be the best art
minds we can muster for the task. Most of the men don't have any clear
goal or sense of direction, and Stokes basically plays centerfield
vaguely watching over them all without any direct action. The only one
who gets something to work with is Damon as James Granger. Sent to the
newly-freed Paris, he meets up with suspicious French rebel Claire
Simone, who has been undercover with the Nazis and knows where all the
art has been taken. There's a hint of sexual tension as Granger tries to
convince her to reveal what she knows, and it's about as close as we
get to genuine emotional bonding. She's pretty much the only female in
the movie and one can't help but wish she and Damon had a bit more time
together to take things further.
Clooney means well,
and through soaring speeches he makes the case for the importance of
culture, and how it should never be allowed to vanish in the face of
war. As a central theme it's one of real value, now more than ever, but
it's easy to overlook because the film is such a thudding bore. In his
biggest film to date, Clooney presents an authentic version of the
period, and really seems to hit on the loneliness of a soldier out on
the frontline. His respect for the material and the real people involved
sometimes comes off as overly earnest, but let's be honest in that all
of Clooney's work has that tendency. It's to Clooney's credit that his
passion runs so deep for this little-known piece of our history, but
The Monuments Men is no work of art and perhaps would be better off as a documentary or TV series where it can be done proper justice.
