Hard to pigeonhole this movie

Rating: 5/10 (13 August 2014)

'The Monuments Men.' Maybe I should have found out more about this film before I watched it. I thought I had a round idea... we're told from the promotional material that a group of 'misfits' hunts important pieces of art during the end of the Second World War and prevents them from falling into Nazi hands.
And, to be fair, that is what it's about. However, I don't know what I was expecting, but it never seemed to fit into any particular genre. It's not really a war film. Yes, it's set in the middle of a war and – almost – every scene depicts a war-torn Europe. However, there's hardly a shot fired throughout the entire film. The 'misfits' label makes it sound like some sort of 'Dirty Dozen' film where a bunch of screwballs triumph over adversity (falling down quite a few times along the way). Again, the characters are a bunch of misfits, yet they're certainly not funny enough to be particularly entertaining. Yes, I know this is a serious subject (i.e. Nazis stealing – and sometimes destroying – precious art during the war), so I wasn't expecting the central characters to behave like clowns, but I thought their interactions may be a little more enjoyable.
Unfortunately, none of the characters are really fleshed-out enough for us to care that much about them. Despite the cast being full of excellent talent, all seem to be a little underused. The story is simply the main characters sitting in one war-ravaged location after the next, discussing where they're going to look next for a painting, or sculpture.
There was some attempt to interject a 'baddie' element. Early on in the film we meet a Nazi who's also hunting all the priceless pieces of artwork. However, that story is kind of snubbed out halfway through and feels a little disappointing.
What we're left with is an important story (as it is based on true events) that find themselves told in the blandest way possible. The cast do their best, but the script just isn't that enjoyable. Maybe the film-makers were trying to accurately capture the 'depressing' feel of the era. If that was their intention then they succeeded. I felt gloomy waiting for it to end, too.
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