The Monumental Failure

Rating: 4/10 (28 February 2014)

The Monuments Men, was arguably the most anticipated movie of 2013, and this was no surprise due to the star studded cast of George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, and Cate Blanchett. With George Clooney also directing and having part of writing the film, built up a lot of hype. However with it being the most anticipated film of 2013, I also believe it to be the most disappointing film of 2014... the script is hugely flawed, whilst it does somewhat keep the audience engaged with a few one-liners and witty character interactions, it leaves the characters to become hugely one dimensional. After leaving the cinema, I struggled to remember any of the character names and most of the characters themselves were easily forgotten. After watching the movie, wait an hour and you will see my point.
It seemed as though George Clooney had watched hours upon hours of World War 2 movies prior to directing this film for ideas to incorporate into Monuments Men, it's as though he saw cigarettes to be the biggest generic convention and packed Monuments Men absolutely full of smoking, turning it into a 2 hour cigarette advertisement. It is clear to me that George Clooney is not cut out for writing or directing. The film glorifies America's 'dominance' of the war with the only non Americans in the team dying not so far in. The two of whom were incredibly clichéd, with Jean Dujardin wearing a beret and scarf throughout.
As the team ventured across Europe, over various front lines, they experienced the most minimal of obstacles almost completely taking away the action aspect of the film which is so vital to a War genre film. Due to this, it became possibly the most simplest of heists ever portrayed, they even knew exactly where to look. This completely lost it's focus on the true story which became far from how it was portrayed by Clooney.