Excellent cast, mediocre writing. Often the musical score will make or break a movie, this one broke it.
I like the idea of the movie because like it was said in other comments it is a story that needs to be told, it´s not really common knowledge what happened to all the art during WWII and why a lot of it is still there today.
But I also agree with other reviews that the great cast is somewhat wasted on what turned out a mediocre movie.
You can not count the amount of my yawns. I can not get over that can do drama war without a single moment of tension.
You know how people complain that they "don't make nice, simple movies" anymore? Check this one out. Confidently directed by Clooney, this gorgeous film follows a group of WWII soldiers with one very complicated task: rescue and recover as many great works of art as they can from the Nazis. Sounds like an easy job, right? Nope. With the Germans losing the war, they started retreating back into their native land--and took everything they had pillaged with them. Or burned it. Clooney, Damon and Blanchett are great -- I got a distinct "wartime Ocean's 11" vibe from them -- but the real standouts are Bill Murray and John Goodman, investing their characters with heart. It's not the greatest movie ever made, and not even the best WWII movie ever made (that's Schindler's List, a movie I saw once and never need to see again), but it's the kind of the un-ironic, un-cynical movie Hollywood doesn't make any more.
Watched this on a flight. Good cast, awful movie.
The Monuments Men was one of my most anticipated one's for this year. What happened is that the poor reviews were so many that I kinda lost the interest on going watch it at the theater at the time. After this months I finally took the decision of watching it.
I always like films related with World War II, every story based on it causes me interest so this was a must watch as soon as I knew about it, even more because of the amount of great names associated to it. But as lot of other films the cast was not able to save the film.
This film wants to praise the work of those men who were looking for the stolen art by Hitler during the war. Hitler robbed and hid a lot of famous works of art of most of the famous painters and artists of the world. If Hitler lost the war it was already programmed for the art to be destroyed and a group of men was willing to literally risked their lifes for art! If they had not been succeded maybe today we didn't have some of the amazing works of art of all time.
George Clooney succeds in that aspect. During the whole film we feel that those men loved that they were doing, really commited to their mission. What Clooney weren't able to do was showing more moments with them as a team and he needed to make us care more about the characters because some needed more time on screen. Bill Muray, John Goodman, Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Jean Dujardin, all of them weren't able to have their shining moments. The romanticized part of the film between Matt Damon and Cate Blanchett needed more depth. Their chemistry was great and surprisingly (and I say surprisingly because it is supposed for us get focused on the stolen art story) their scenes were the ones that I liked the most.
The pace is not the best. It has really slow moments where I lost interest and got distracted, fortunately I wanted to know what this great heros did and that helped me to get focused. I also felt that some scenes were unecessary and others that needed more developed were left behind.
The Monuments Men is not the amazing film that I was expecting. Great story and great actors and I that for that alone it deserve a certain credit. It's certainly not great but at least showed us a side of the WWII that was never explored on film before, even if unfortunately poor.
George is handsome, Cate is beautiful and the camera focus is good, so enjoy your popcorn, it'll be the highlight.
A bit in the style of adventure films and a bit untrue, as in the case of Portrait of a Young Man painting by Raphael, the destruction of which has not been confirmed and is still missing.
Better than I expected. Of course it’s not in the top echelon of war movies, but it tells its unique story well enough, the comedy isn’t too over the top where it turns into a distraction, and it successfully addresses the core question: why should we care about art at a time when we should be devoted to fighting homicidal maniacs trying for world domination? I liked this movie, it deserves better than a 30% on RT.
The Monuments Men, despite its impressive cast, lands as just an okay movie. It fails to deliver the extraordinary experience expected from such a talented ensemble. While the concept is intriguing, the execution leaves much to be desired, leaving you with a sense of unfulfilled potential.
I wish the characters were treated more seriously, rather than almost as caricatures of the actual Monuments Men. It was ok for what it was: pretty shallow with poorly drawn characters but entertaining nonetheless.
I have no recollection of what happened. Unremarkable.
Interesting film as I watched it because of the series Hunting Nazi Treasure. The documentary is better
From George Clooney comes the World War II drama The Monuments Men. Based on a true story, the film follows a specialized Army unit that’s tasked with tracking down and securing famous artwork stolen by the Nazis. Featuring an all-star cast that includes George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, and John Goodman, the performances are extraordinarily good. It’s quite an interesting chapter of history, but the script only does a cursorily job at explaining the significance of what the Monuments Men did and why they did it. Still, The Monuments Men is a compelling film with a powerful message about art’s role in preserving our cultural heritage.
Did you see Ocean's 12 and 13? Put those films in Europe in 1944 and you have this film. Not awful, but you forgot it the minute that it ended. What a waste of an amazing cast.
While the movie seemed a bit slow, this was a story that needed to be told. I felt that this was an interesting way to relate the story of Hitler's nefarious plans to destroy the world's cultural pieces if he could not have them for himself. Thankfully, these men were able to save a vast amount of what was taken from families, private collections and other institutions. While not diminishing the sacrifice of so many service members, we should be mindful that the efforts and sacrifices of this small group of men is to be lauded as well.
Good cast and good idea but for any reason it just does not work to elevate the movie.
Extremely boring, full of clichés. Not a good movie.
Re-watch with the In-Laws. Great film, holds up well.
Great subject, amazing cast, Clooney is pretty solid as director and from a technical point of view I think he did a good job...what really cripples this movie seem to be a screenplay that never get the right rhythm. Is not an easy task to find the right space and balance to move so many characters in a movie. What is odd is that Clooney in the past always demonstrated to have instead a good eye for catching great script. My feeling is that with such a stellar cast it must have been quite a gamble to fit a shooting schedule feasible for all...and looks like screenplay polishing as been rushed too much, maybe counting too much on the cast performances to glue all together. It's a pity because the subject is interesting and original...and you can see that the movie has been crafted with a love for the matter. However the final result is still an half empty cup.
Think the History Channel's documentary is better
Good cast, however the pace of the movie was kinda annoying sometimes. All in all I enjoyed the movie but there could have been more going on in between the exciting sequences.
Clooney es un buen director, pero no le dio el enfoque correcto a esta historia. Solo buena, pero sera olvidada pronto
Too many changes from the book to let me really enjoy it.
this seems like it was written in 5 minutes in a napkin during a smoke break. what a disappointing mess...
Unfocused, blabbering and totally disappointing. What was Clooney doing while writing and directing this? Sleeping?
Shout by joeshuffVIP 2BlockedParent2019-01-30T20:56:52Z
I think this film did as it set out to do, and it did it in an entertaining way. It does have a very good cast, a quality lineup you rarely get to see, but I don't think the film ruined it like other reviews suggest. It told a very good story that made me appreciate art just a bit more and what people did for it. I would definitely recommend watching.