THE MONUMENTS MEN - Wednesday 26th March 2014

Written by George Clooney, Produced by George Clooney, Directed by George Clooney and Starring George Clooney, 'The Monuments Men' which I saw last night at the Cremorne Orpheum is his vehicle well & truly. He probably took the garbage out at night after the days shooting wrapped, he probably bought the cast & crew their coffee & muffins for morning tea, and he probably played a few practical jokes on his old mate Matt Damon just for good measure. Ahh, you just gotta love the multi-talented and versatile George!

With a huge cast including Matt Damon, John Goodman, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett and Hugh Bonneville . . . did I mention George Clooney - this film promises so much, but delivers so little. I came away feeling underwhelmed by this film. This is a true story after all that should be told, but it lacks substance, character development, any real punch and any sense of action. Our team of seven art historians thrust into the closing months of WWII to retrieve plundered, stolen, hidden artworks from across war torn Europe from the clutches of the Nazi's and Soviet's could be a gripping tale of daring-do, suspense, intrigue, action and the determination of the human spirit to preserve our historical and cultural heritage from obliteration forever. Instead this falls short as the story line is crammed into under two hours and the finer detail is skirted over quickly in an attempt to cover as much ground around Europe as possible as the search for countless significant works of art continues. 

The film has the look and feel of a fifties or sixties war film - only in crystal clear high definition colour, and on-screen the set pieces look good enough as we have sweeping vistas of war ravaged European cities, the Normandy Beach front, and Paris in ruins. Our band of brothers are devout art lovers, historians and clearly passionate about their chosen field of expertise, but this passion rarely manifests itself on screen and in these characters, so making the realism and the believability all the more strained.

You don't need to see this on the big screen. Save yourself the price of a ticket and wait for the DVD rental and watch it home on a cold wet night with a pizza and a beer!

 

-Steve, at OdeonOnline-