I’ve always been a fan of ensemble films, since they give a chance for a wide gamut of actors to strut their stuff in the acting department, while simultaneously having various different characters and personality types bounce off each other in entertaining ways. The Monuments Men should be another excellent entry into the ranks of great ensemble films, but unfortunately, this muddled movie winds up being a disappointing mess.

Frank (George Clooney) leads a brigade of men into World War II to take back art. Among them are Richard (Bill Murray), James (Matt Damon) and Walter (John Goodman), who, like everybody else in the group, are experts in the field of art. As they enter the battlefield, they soon realize that the stakes are higher than they could have ever imagined and time is running out to preserve all of these artistic achievements.

Unfortunately, The Monuments Men never does anything truly exciting with that premise and that terrific cast, instead settling for story tropes we’ve seen a billion times before. Much of the blame must go to separating the cast for huge chunks of the film, meaning there’s no chance for memorable character interactions. Now, there are still some moments of chemistry that bring some fun (Bob Balaban and Bill Murray, as usual, light up the screen whenever they interact), but the separation of the group means most characters become underdeveloped. To boot, many people (namely Frank) disappear for long stretches of the film. All the fun that the ensemble cast seems to promise never comes to fruition, making for an extremely disappointing experience.

Not helping matters is the episodic structure of the film that sets in during the second act, which makes things even boring and predictable than they were before. And man, do I feel sorry for the uber talented Cate Blanchett who was saddled with her extraneous role here. She’s super talented and deserved better than this meager role. The inconsistencies spread to the tone as well, which attempts to combine a cheery atmosphere with the horridness of World War II. Interestingly, this tone is achieved by avoiding all the atrocities committed in the battle (for instance, the Holocaust is only mentioned once, indirectly). This kind of upbeatness doesn’t gel well well the protagonist primary mission of getting all this art back before it’s too late, and thus, much of the movies dramatic potential is reduced.
I really, really hate it when a movie like this doesn’t live up to expectations, because many of the people involved are capable of creating truly remarkable movies. Unfortunately, The Monuments Men isn’t one of those films and is destined to being just another title on all of these actors IMDB pages. Sure, it isn’t bad, but that’s mainly due to the films funnier moments and the few moments whenever this impressive cast is put to good use. Considering how much could have been done with the cast, setting and story, The Monuments Men feels like just a waste.