The Monuments Men (2014)

An unlikely World War II platoon is tasked to rescue art masterpieces from Nazi thieves and return them to their owners.

Director:

George Clooney

Writers:

George Clooney (screenplay), Grant Heslov (screenplay)

Stars:

George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray

3 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
George Clooney	...	Frank Stokes
Matt Damon	...	James Granger
Bill Murray	...	Richard Campbell
Cate Blanchett	...	Claire Simone
John Goodman	...	Walter Garfield
Jean Dujardin	...	Jean Claude Clermont
Hugh Bonneville	...	Donald Jeffries
Bob Balaban	...	Preston Savitz
Dimitri Leonidas	...	Sam Epstein
Justus von Dohnányi	...	Viktor Stahl
Holger Handtke	...	Colonel Wegner
Michael Hofland	...	Priest (Claude)
Zachary Baharov	...	Commander Elya (as Zahary Baharov)
Michael Brandner	...	Dentist
Sam Hazeldine	...	Colonel Langton

Storyline

Based on the true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history, The Monuments Men is an action drama focusing on an unlikely World War II platoon, tasked by FDR with going into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and returning them to their rightful owners. It would be an impossible mission: with the art trapped behind enemy lines, and with the German army under orders to destroy everything as the Reich fell, how could these guys - seven museum directors, curators, and art historians, all more familiar with Michelangelo than the M-1 - possibly hope to succeed? But as the Monuments Men, as they were called, found themselves in a race against time to avoid the destruction of 1000 years of culture, they would risk their lives to protect and defend mankind's greatest achievements.

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Plot Keywords:

art | art expert | nazi stolen art | world war two | soldier | 

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Taglines:

It was the greatest art heist in history

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | History | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some images of war violence and historical smoking

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA Germany

Language:

English German Russian French Flemish Dutch

Release Date:

7 February 2014 (USA)

Also Known As:

Operación Monumento

Filming Locations:

Studio Babelsberg, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

$70,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$22,700,000, 9 February 2014, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$78,031,620

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$159,231,620

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Fox 2000 Pictures, Smokehouse Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat SDDS Dolby Surround 7.1 Dolby Atmos

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

From a newspaper report dated 13 December 2013: Police broke into the flat of Cornelius Gurlitt, the son of a Nazi art dealer who hoarded hundreds of works believed to have been looted by the Third Reich. Gurlitt has been the focus of huge media attention after a trove of over 1,400 previously unknown masterpieces were uncovered in his München flat. A task force appointed to research the origin of the art has said that around 590 pictures fall into the category of art looted or extorted by the Nazis from Jewish collectors. These include pieces by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Edvard Munch, Paul Cézanne and others.

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Goofs

While photo colorization wasn't entirely unknown in the 1940s, most of Stokes' film slides (during his post-war lecture/debriefing) would have been in black-and-white.

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Quotes

James Granger: You want to go into a war zone and tell our boys what they can and cannot blow up?

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Crazy Credits

At the beginning of the end credits there are black and white photos of the real Monuments Men with some of the art they saved.

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Connections

Featured in Film 2017: Episode dated 11 February 2014 (2014)

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Soundtracks

Night And Day
Written by Cole Porter
Performed by Patrick Peronne (as Patrick Péronne)
Courtesy of Promo Sound Ltd

User Reviews

Not nearly the worst film of 2014, but the most disappointing one so far.

The Monuments Men is directed by George Clooney, staring himself, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, and Cate Blanchett. It tells of a group of soldiers tasked to locate and preserve pieces of art that have been stolen by the Nazis during World War II.

It's no secret that The Monuments Men was one of everyone's most anticipated movies of 2013, and looked like a solid awards contender, until it was pushed to a February release date, purportedly due to the need for more time to be spent on the special effects.

The truth is, The Monuments Men could be, and really should be much more entertaining than it is. The best part of the film, and at the same time, its major problem, is the script. There are seemingly continuous laughs coming from quick one liners and witty character interactions, which keeps the audience somewhat engaged, although with such bleak subject matter, it's debatable that a movie dealing with the eradication of an entire culture's achievements should be as lighthearted as it is. But the flaw with the script is that it seems like the first act eats up almost all of it's running time. It's as if the film is missing large portions of the actual plot to make room for massive amounts of unnecessary exposition. Secondly, the film's characters are stale and one dimensional at best. I invite anyone who sees the film to wait an hour after finishing the movie, and try to remember even three of the character's names or what their role in the mission was. There isn't a moment in the entire film where it isn't simply John Goodman or Bill Murray dressed as World War II soldiers and not fleshed out characters. Albeit all of the actors are exceedingly fun to watch, I assume that just watching all of these actors talk together at a press conference would be just about as entertaining.

The Monuments Men isn't even close to the worst movie of 2014 by a long shot, even though it is only February, but it's arguably the most disappointing film of the year as of yet. I take no pleasure in saying this, but it's noble intentions fell utterly short due to awful pacing, and forgettable characters. I haven't read the book, but I have to think that it must be much better constructed and does this fantastic real life story more justice.