The Monuments Men
2014
*½
Director: George Clooney
Cast: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, Cate Blanchett, Sam Hazeldine, Dimitri Leonidas
Towards the end of WW2, the Allies form a special unit who are sent to Europe and tasked to autheticate and rescue priceless works of art from the Nazis before the pieces are forever hidden or destroyed. George Clooney's fifth directorial work brings to light a little known and interesting footnote of history, and that's just about the only positive thing I can say about his film, which is tonally all over the place. This is primarily a lighthearted caper, but every now and then this group of curators and art historians come face to face with the horrors of war. Unfortunately the characters are so poorly sketched and so drably played that when someone dies, my first thought is that they were known as the Monuments Men because they were so lifeless. Clooney and Grant Heslov scripted from the book The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert M. Edsel and Bret Witter.
