This latest film from George Clooney was one I had been looking forward to since first hearing about it. A story of a group of ageing guys recovering stolen art from the Germans at the tail end of World War 2 really piqued my interest. I imagined it would be in the tradition of the all start Second World War epics that were popular in the 1960s / 1970s, such as The Guns of Navarone, Where Eagles Dare or A Bridge Too Far, with maybe a dash out the Oceans films thrown in. After all, co starring with Clooney is Matt Damon, and the plot has the heist element to it.
Alarm bells started ringing when its original release date was delayed by over 12 months and it was eventually released too late for the current awards season. Those bells rang louder when it got a critical mauling ion America, but I trusted my initial instincts and coughed up the cash to see it in my local Odeon, and I am glad I did! Clooney, Damon, plus John Goodman, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, Jean Dujardin and Hugh Bonneville, mostly recruited from civilian jobs, make up the group of art seekers. Their search takes them from France, Belgium and finally to Germany as they try to track down the most important pieces.
All of the cast, with the exception of Cate Blanchett in an underdeveloped supporting role and sporting a terrible French accent, are a delight. Admittedly, none of them are out of their comfort zone, but they convey the camaraderie of the group very well and are able to handle both the comic and serious elements of the story. The story itself is fascinating, and one that I knew little about, though your enjoyment of it may depend on whether you think that the task they undertook is one that is worth losing lives over. Personally, I’m with Winston Churchill – when a government official suggested to him that arts funding should be cut in the war to give more to the army he was reported to have said “Then what would we be fighting for?”
Clooney seemed to understand that could be a problem, and, as a result, there are a couple of quite heavy handed speeches about the importance of their mission. Also, on the negative side, the film could have done with a better, more coherent structure. A number of disparate plot lines fail to pull together and about half way through the film some of the team make decisions that put themselves at serious risk that do not seem to be that logical.
It is, I think, one of those rare occasions, when I came away feeling that the film would have benefited being longer as maybe another 30 to 45 minutes would have allowed the story to flow better. So, whilst not reaching the heights of the films mentioned at the start of this review, The Monuments Men is still a thoroughly enjoyable piece of entertainment.
Rating: 7 out of 10