THE MONUMENTS MEN (2014)
Unusual. I find it fascinating that this film tries to touch a compelling subject such as "
Art", in the disturbing time of War. For the first time, we see them fighting for culture, for preserve their way of life. I also love how it keeps the other aspects of the war, killings, deaths, chaos, to bare minimum and keeps itself in its own world ...
The world of Art, but doesn't forget to remind us that '
No piece of art is worth a man’s life'.
Its clear that
The Monuments Men has admirable intentions, and the passion of
Clooney, both as a director and actor, is obvious. Showing of real pictures, to inject the sense that it was all ‘actually‘ based on a true story, worked pretty good. And to ensure its effectiveness, he assembles some high-value faces such as
John Goodman,
Matt Damon,
Bill Murray,
Cate Blanchett etc. And they work pretty good, as far as the '
comedic' aspect is concerned.
Other times, well ... its difficult to say this, but it was indeed
boring. Don't get me wrong. Soundtracks were touching, and cinematography absolutely brilliant; I can only imagine the work and effort they put through to recreate those war places, buildings from inside out, beach, paintings or other pieces of art. "
Characters" are the bigger problem. Their speeches had value, they lacked the narrative weight. Accent of
Cate Blanchett was definitely an appealing touch, but she remains a side-kick mostly.
A handful of scenes which made me smile are '
Sniper kid', '
Landmind scene', '
arrest of Rothschild'. '
Attack on Jean Claude' was the best of the lot, what a beautifully shot scene. Also, Hitler's scenes ... worth a clap. No audio, visuals and soundtrack say it all. Nicely done. So, '
was it worth it?'. Pretty much.
6/10. I actually like it, for my own reasons. Its not often we get to see such unusual material. Clooney should keep it up with his passion.