The Monuments Men

The Monuments Men is about a group of older soldiers in WWII that were tasked with finding and returning stolen art. It has a huge, amazingly talented cast but the thing that this film is going to be known for is the man in the director's chair. George Clooney is relatively new to the chair but I am sure you have heard that name before. The stars are Matt Damon, John Goodman, Bill Murray, and Cate Blanchett. I left a few names out but those four are the biggest names in my eyes.

This film was a odd one to say the least, and not a good odd. The pace and tone were just okay. The film clocks in at about 2 hours, it doesn't feel like two hours, but there is another problem with that that I will get to later. The tone was pretty well thought out in the film. It does lose itself at times, but isn't so bad that the normal viewer would be put off by it. The film was well shot.  I loved a lot of the shots and they were used very well in the film. It had a very classical way of telling the story which I really enjoyed.

Sadly, that is where my compliments end. The film is boring and very clichéd. Like I said above, the pace of the film is good, but it doesn't matter much. This film felt like Clooney was trying to make his version of Saving Private Ryan. It even steals the ending of the film to some degree. You never really get to know any of the characters, but the acting is good for what it is worth.  I will admit Bill Murray, John Goodman  and Cate Blanchett are doing a great job for what they have. The story about how we should look after our art is pretty good, but, as the viewer, you just don't care. This film is a huge disappointment in my eyes. It should have been very good and really could have been great, but misses the mark by a lot. For the first film that I am reviewing of 2014, this one made me sad so I am giving this film a

RATING
1 out 4 Ticket Stubs.