Not as bad as many critics would have you believe.

Rating: 6/10 (17 February 2014)

I saw this on the second day of its opening weekend in the UK. The cinema screen was only about a quarter full. That surprised me. Maybe people had been put off by the lukewarm reviews by the critics. Maybe George Clooney isn't just much of a draw at the box office any more. Maybe people just don't want to see a film about "art". Maybe everybody else in Preston was up at Deepdale paying their respects to Sir Tom Finney. Perhaps it was a little bit of all of the above.
I consider myself fairly well informed when it comes to World War 2, but I have to say that although I know that the Nazis looted loads of art from all across the continent, I never knew that the real-life 'Monument Men' existed - people who's job it was to try and locate all this missing artwork, get it back, and return it to their rightful owners. To this day of course, the search for pilfered art from WW2 is ongoing. How much of this film is true and how much is fiction is open to question. The real 'Monuments Men' were of course much more than platoon strength - in the film we are told there were just eight (led on-screen by Clooney, who also wrote and directed), in reality there were a few hundred. Some of the characters are apparently loosely based on real people, but their names have been changed. A bit like "The Great Escape" in that regard. For example, for Cate Blanchett's character (Claire Simone) you should Google 'Rose Valland' for information on the real person her character was based on.
The film was good enough to hold my interest, but I can't say it blew me away, and I don't see it getting anywhere at next years Oscars. I will try and obtain a copy of the book on which this film is based, as I thought the actual story is quite interesting, probably much more so than the film. The way I see it, George Clooney has educated me that these people existed, now I will deliberately forget what I have just seen and read the truth instead! Worth a watch - not half as bad as the critics suggest. 6/10