The Monuments Men. Not Monumental.

Rating: Null/10 (23 February 2014)

Frank Stokes (George Clooney) is a Harvard art conservationist, who sees the great art of the world being stolen by the Nazis in World War II. Germany wants to build a museum if the Fuhrer, filled with the stolen artwork from the Louvre. He brings the story of the art theft to FDR, (Michael Dalton) who in turn asks Stokes to go into Europe, and recover the stolen art. Stokes puts together a team of older art experts, James Granger (Matt Damon) Richard Campbell (Bill Murray) Walter Garfield (John Goodman) Preston Savitz, (Bob Balaban) a Frenchman, Jean Clermont (Jean Dujardin) and an Englishman, Donald Jeffries. (Hugh Bonneville) The group must join the army and follow patrols into German cities as they fall. Granger has to find Claire Simone (Cate Blanchett) who probably knows more about the stolen art than anyone in France, but Claire is not talking, because she has been jailed by the French for being a collaborator and doesn't trust anyone. The mission takes place with the Nazis in retreat in 1944, but the mission is still fraught with danger. Jeffries loses his life guarding the Bruges Madonna in Belgium, and what starts as a mission to save the greatest artwork in history, becomes a mission of life and death. Stokes think he knows where the art is kept, but when he gets to the first city in Germany where he thinks the art is kept, there are no art pieces to be found. Where in Germany is the art being kept? Can James Granger get any information from Claire Simone?
I have mixed feelings about The Monuments Men, it is an interesting story, one that I knew nothing about, but there doesn't seem to be enough of a story to sustain two hours of filmmaking, so there are points where the movie drags. The cast tries to fill the slow spots with comedy, but World War II is still a very serious topic, so there is a limit to how much comedy they can put in a movie like this. There doesn't seem to be a lot of conflict in the film, the Monuments Men seemingly cruised through Germany to find this art with seemingly little resistance or hardship of any kind. With no conflict, there's no real emotional hook to this movie,it's a hybrid, it tries to be a movie about art and culture, but it also tries to be a war movie. But it's not Schindler's List, or Saving Private Ryan, or the Great Escape or Stalag 17, it's not even Inglorious Basterds.
The story is not cohesive, that is both the writer and director's fault, and since both are George Clooney, he has to shoulder the blame for it. The story skips from the hunt for the art to the subplot between Claire and James, which features a clumsy attempt at romance, which detracts from the main plot, which is not that strong in the first place.
The cast is excellent, they make the material better than it is. I don't like Clooney's dull monotone delivery, but even he has a good scene interrogating a Nazi officer about the lost art, and the officer's participation in concentration camps. Matt Damon is very good as Granger, the man trying to cajole information from Claire. Cate Blanchett is good, as Claire, a sweet, librarian type, who has lost her ability to trust. John Goodman, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, and Jean Dujardin all add comedic flourishes, and make the movie more enjoyable than the material.
I would say this is a good movie to rent, but not great for the theaters.
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