Consensus

Rating: 6/10 (12 February 2014)

It seems to me nearly all of the reviews thus far (Feb. 2014) have at least something good to say about a flawed movie. Seldom is there so much consensus across the spectrum. I viewed it on opening day with great expectations and came away thinking of it as only a curiosity, a tale with two possible aspects. First, I found it just another 1960's style WWII narrative with a slightly lighthearted American perspective to accompany its musical score. But upon further viewing more somber elements took over.
Based on certain historical facts, the script compels a certain suspension of disbelief. In the event, however, the facts as presented seem not only fragmented, but interpreted across the board so as to make heroes of several very ordinary guys trying to do an impossible job: namely, dispelling horrors of war by making sure objets d'art survived intact. Political swipes at all them "furriners" especially Germans and Russians provided an unhappy and distasteful undertone.
Occasionally great cinematic art itself cannot and probably should not survive its critics.