Review of The Monuments Men (2014) by Matt S — 26 May 2014

Monuments Men is probably a little better than my two star rating would indicate, but I am deducting another half point because all the people involved in making it should have known better.

So a group of art curators are put into the field in world war II in order to protect the priceless works of art the Nazis have been stealing and destroying. There are at least half a dozen ways you could build a compelling story with that. You could have a heist film, a fish out of water story etc....Momuments Men fails to deliver anything. There is no villain in the story, and worse no overarching goal for the protaganists beyond "saving art" Scenes just sort of happen with little dramatic context. The performances and cinematography are decent but basic storytelling is missing, up to and including the main conceit that saving all this art is worth losing lives over, it's said again and again but the point is never made dramatically through character development. Boo George Clooney Boo.