The Monuments Men

The touching, comedic, and patriotic aspects sometimes clash with each other, but George Clooney manages to chew on this giant chunk thoroughly enough that he gives me a war experience so atypical I would even trust him with the attack on Berlin alone. Besides, Matt Damon simply knows how to handle the role of the strong, smiling type. (02/28/2014)

I can't help it, but the whole time I had a feeling that it was mainly about the enjoyment of the creators and actors who were involved in this, and who are truly top-tier, but I also had a feeling that the audience was somewhat forgotten. The title and the basic plot evoked something that was given to the viewer. But exactly that, nothing more. The form was quite easy, polished, simply put, but I didn't feel anything more. (09/25/2014)

The more you know about the subject Clooney is talking about, the more the film will appeal to you. Whether it’s the role of an unassuming, conscientious woman of the people named Claire Simone, thanks to whom a large part of the looted artworks was saved (see for instance the documentary Hitler Museum from 2006), or the real characters of the Monument Men, whose fates have been the subject of several books, but it is thanks to Clooney that they appear for the first time in a feature film, and George has thus paid one big debt to these guys thanks to whom we can enjoy this beautiful art in galleries today. And there’s eye candy here, too. The film has a high visual value thanks to the great cinematography, a high informational value thanks to the interesting chosen theme (so I laugh at some of the silly criticisms here about the "no-agency") and the only thing I would criticize is how the forcefully added pathos in some scenes, or, on the contrary, inappropriately incorporated humour, clashes with the serious tone of the film as a whole. This, unfortunately, is something Clooney didn’t keep an eye on. But other than that, I'm really, really glad I saw it and I'm eager to read more about this interesting aspect of World War II. (05/07/2014)

The Monuments Men is a boring patron of war movies. The laid-back atmosphere and almost total lack of danger rob Clooney’s movie of any thrill and drive. On the other hand, it offers a couple of humorous scenes and some fascinating information from the background of the Second World War ending. Pleasant, but nothing special. (05/04/2014)

It’s a pity that George Clooney didn’t decide whether to turn this story into a comedy, similar to The Seventh Company, or a classic war movie with everything it entails. With actors of the likes of Bill Murray, Matt Damon, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin or Clooney himself, he leaned more towards the comedy, but then when I watched the film, I almost didn’t laugh at all. On the other hand, I didn’t really enjoy the proper war atmosphere either. It’s simply a bad caricature, which has a bit of everything, but together it has nothing, and I’m very sorry about that. In any case, I still have to admit that the story is good and as usual, there are a few absolutely great scenes. For example the shootout, smoking with a Nazi or a visiting a German whose living room boasts one “copy” of some famous painting next to another, were definitely worth it. However, I’m sorry to say that as a whole the film is just average. It’s hard to give a better rating to something that often reminds you of M.A.S.H., except that everyone is so deadly serious. (06/15/2014)