Based on a true story, the film “Monuments Men” chronicles several American artists, painters and a curator as they go to Nazi Germany to identify and save the millions of works of art the Nazis are destroying and hiding. The cast of artists and curators is an all-star list, including George Clooney (“Syriana”), who also directed, Matt Damon (“Bourne Identity”), Bill Murray (“Caddyshack”), John Goodman (“The Big Lebowski”) and Cate Blanchett (“Elizabeth”).
“Monuments Men” almost feels a bit like Quentin Tarantino’s 2009 WWII film “Inglorious Basterds.” Both movies feature slightly odd, renegade soldiers running around Europe trying to complete missions about which they are incredibly passionate. However, “Monuments Men” feels slightly more lost than “Inglorious Basterds” (and is much less violent). Although “Monuments Men” is certainly a fun movie, it feels overcomplicated, like it tried to overextend itself. In several spots, there are new story arcs introduced that never seem to be resolved or do not belong in the movie for any reason whatsoever. There are several Nazi officials who are introduced, and viewers are led to believe that they will be important to the makeup of the film, but then they just disappear with no real explanation. Although there were several plot holes, the movie itself was consistently enjoyable. There were never parts that felt like they dragged on, which was helped by the excellent cast. The movie had so many excellent actors that the only injustice was that they were not on screen long enough.
That being said, the acting is terrific. With an all-star cast consisting of Clooney, Goodman, Jean Dujardin (“The Artist”), Bob Balaban (“Waiting for Guffman”) and many more, how could it not be? The characters are all interesting, two of the best being the stubborn Pvt. Preston Savitan, played by Balaban, and the goofy Sgt. Richard Campbell, played by Murray. The relationship between these two is one of the most interesting dynamics of the entire film and provides some excellent comic relief.
Although the acting is fantastic, another one of this film’s injustices is that there are so many excellent actors that each character must receive significant screen time, rather than focusing on one or two very interesting ones. Because of this, we never truly get to see the depths of any character and only spend a relatively small amount of screen time with the good ones. The film might have been better if it instead focused on the more interesting characters instead of trying to show us bits of each one. It feels like “Monuments Men” tries to fit too much into its two-hour run time.
Although “Monuments Men” certainly has some faults, the movie itself is a lot of fun. Do not expect to see an Academy Award-winning film, but even though viewers do not get to know the individual characters all that well, it is fun to see all these incredible actors on screen, and the movie itself is certainly enjoyable.
