The Monuments Men - 5 stars out of 10

The Monuments Men - 5 stars out of 10

“The Monuments Men” is an interesting film that tells the story of World War II from the perspective of the artwork being plundered by Hitler throughout Europe.  While my rating is average, this film did not meet my expectations.  With an all-star cast of George Clooney, Matt Damon, John Goodman, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, and Jean Dujardin, I expected an overwhelmingly awesome display of acting.  I hoped that Clooney and Damon would bring the drama, Murray and Goodman would bring the comedy, and that team would work together like the next “Oceans Eleven”; however, when the group split up for their individual missions, we lost that cool team approach to saving the artwork.  The story became compartmentalized, limiting each actor to his small facet of the story.  Rather than giving each actor a chance to shine, we didn’t get enough time with any of them to enjoy their performance.  That being said, the story is very interesting.  The loss of humanity during this war makes it easy to forget that things like art and music still existed.  One of the smartest aspects of the story is Cate Blanchett’s hesitance to help the Allies as the Germans and Russians turned this situation into an “every man for himself” race to get a hold of these priceless treasures.  Also, the theme that men were willing to give up their lives to protect this artwork for future generations was excellent.  I love how George Clooney had his father play the future version of himself.  Those are the details that made this film so enjoyable.  “The Monuments Men” fell short of its potential, but it is still an awesome story that is worth experiencing.