The Monuments Men

The Monuments Men was supposed to be one of this year's Oscar contenders. But when production hit a snag, it got deployed over here. Now, it remains to be seen if voters will remember it next year.

Director/Star/Co-Writer George Clooney's latest film documents the formation of the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Program during World War II. The program, whose members were nicknamed The Monuments Men, hunted down artwork that the Nazis had purloined. It was the subject of a book by Robert M. Edsel, from which the screenplay was derived.

In this movie, Clooney is Art Professor Frank Stokes, leader of the band. His fellow Monuments Men are art experts, including curators and architects. They go into Axis territory during the last year of the war to steal the stolen art.

They're not the only ones with an investment in the artwork. The Soviets want the art as restitution for their loses. The Nazis want to destroy it all should the Third Reich fall. The Allied superiors wonder what's so important about the mission. As it turns out, preserving the history of entire civilizations is very important.

The film has some lively production design from James D. Bissell. But its plot is rather stiff. We know that the Nazis and Soviets have plans for the art. But the film moves along so leisurely that it diminishes the narrative tension. A few individual scenes, such as one with a broken landmine, do not have this problem.

Composer Alexander Desplat's score is a great contribution to the picture. It gives the film the suitably heroic mood that it wanted to invoke. You'll remember it even if your attention starts to wane. It's truly the film's best quality.

The film's casting is good. Asides from Clooney, there's the likes of Matt Damon, John Goodman, Bill Murray and Cate Blanchett. They're all good fits for the character types they're playing. Especially Murray as the deadpan Chicago architect. None are miscast.

It's a respectable effort from this cast. But The Monuments Men isn't that much of a lively history tour. It's watchable, but not above-and-beyond memorable. Instead, it lands in the middle-ground of World War II pictures.