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Movie reviews: The Monuments Men
Feb. 25th, 2014 07:04 pmI guess people really hate this movie.
I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. I think it has a lot to so with expectations. This is much more like The Men who stare at Goats than does it resemble Saving Private Ryan.
It's played mostly for laughs and has more in common with a Lee Marvin movie from the 60s than anything else. It's a great cast put together of Clooney, Damon, Murray, Goodman, Blanchett and Downton Abbey's Hugh Bonneville.
I am not to say it is a perfect film. At 2 hours long, it feels about 30 minutes too much. Even with all the whimsy, and as much as I enjoyed it, I reached the point where I just wanted to wrap it up.
But it is a largely enjoyable film. Obviously, it is the cast, but it hits mostly perfect notes- never too slapstick-y and never too serious; and I felt the serious points got kept too. Is art more important than the life it takes to save it? It is a hard question. Nothing is worth the loss of human life, but if anything is, surely it's the centuries of art that make that life worth living.
Having read the story of the real Monument Men, this clearly is an oversimplification. That said, I did feel it paid appropriate tribute. Despite's the comedy's most absurd elements, it's hard not to credit the real men who went to the battlefield to save art (and historic buildings, which may be more accurate, but is hard to play out in a 2 hour comedy plot).
Overall, i think this film has gotten an unfair wrap. It really is a fun film by a gang that looks like they are having a fun time making it, and enough serious points thrown in that you still take away something that will resonate.
I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. I think it has a lot to so with expectations. This is much more like The Men who stare at Goats than does it resemble Saving Private Ryan.
It's played mostly for laughs and has more in common with a Lee Marvin movie from the 60s than anything else. It's a great cast put together of Clooney, Damon, Murray, Goodman, Blanchett and Downton Abbey's Hugh Bonneville.
I am not to say it is a perfect film. At 2 hours long, it feels about 30 minutes too much. Even with all the whimsy, and as much as I enjoyed it, I reached the point where I just wanted to wrap it up.
But it is a largely enjoyable film. Obviously, it is the cast, but it hits mostly perfect notes- never too slapstick-y and never too serious; and I felt the serious points got kept too. Is art more important than the life it takes to save it? It is a hard question. Nothing is worth the loss of human life, but if anything is, surely it's the centuries of art that make that life worth living.
Having read the story of the real Monument Men, this clearly is an oversimplification. That said, I did feel it paid appropriate tribute. Despite's the comedy's most absurd elements, it's hard not to credit the real men who went to the battlefield to save art (and historic buildings, which may be more accurate, but is hard to play out in a 2 hour comedy plot).
Overall, i think this film has gotten an unfair wrap. It really is a fun film by a gang that looks like they are having a fun time making it, and enough serious points thrown in that you still take away something that will resonate.
