Review of The Monuments Men (2014) by Tom R — 15 Jun 2014

(2 Stars) Everything you've heard about The Monuments Men being a mess is unfortunately true. And that's a shame because it has a great cast, production value, and setup. But when they split all the characters up, they split the story so many different directions, making it feel uneven. And it pains me to say this, but a lot of it is just plain boring, not really funny, and not really gripping.

There are so many movies about World War II, so creating characters you wouldn't expect in WWII may make it feel unique. A story about protecting the art in the war sounds fascinating, so why not? All of the monuments men (Clooney, Damon, Murray, Goodman, et al) try to give some weight to the art they're saving, even when the movie itself acknowledges human lives are not comparable to art. But they split up into different groups, where there isn't a lot of firefights or comedy for anyone. Even though I wasn't expecting Saving Private Ryan or Inglourious Basterds when it comes to action, there's barely any fighting... in a movie about war.

I don't know how movies about World War II can feel this dull, but The Monuments Men does it. It's not an action movie, not a comedy, and not memorable as drama. While nowhere near terrible, it comes and goes and it's a huge disappointment considering the talent involved.