Trailer Trashin’: It’s Raiders of the Lost Art in The Monuments Men

At long last, this Friday sees the American release of The World’s End, my last must-see film of the summer. And with the end of August less than two weeks away, it’s high time we start looking ahead to the movies coming our way in the fall and winter. In that spirit, this week’s Trailer Trashin’ column looks at what could be one of the big films of the Christmas season, George Clooney’s World War II drama The Monuments Men.

Premise: In a race against time, a crew of art historians and museum curators unite to recover renowned works of art stolen by the Nazis before Hitler’s forces destroy them.

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My take: If you added up the running times of all the films that have been made about World War II, I think it would end up being longer than the amount of the actual war lasted. But amazingly, there are still stories from that remarkable period of history that have yet to be told on the silver screen. One such story is that of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program – also known as the “Monuments Men” – an Allied group tasked with saving pieces of art and other culturally important items before they could be destroyed by the German forces. Now, the MFAA are being brought to the cinema by George Clooney in The Monuments Men. This is the first trailer for the film, and I think it looks like it could be one of the highlights of the year-end movie offerings.

The filmmakers have assembled an impressively big-name cast for the film. In addition to directing, producing, and co-writing, George Clooney plays the lead role of George Stout, the man who puts together the titular group; I know some people like to rag on him, but I really like Clooney, because he’s a talented actor, a good director, and by most accounts a pretty swell person. Matt Damon, who we just saw in Elysium, plays Lt. James J. Rorimer, an American museum curator who became one of the leaders of the “Monuments Men,” and later went on to be the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City; I really like Damon as an actor, and I look forward to seeing him play a more nerdy character than usual. Cate Blanchett, who’s been a favorite actress of mine ever since I first saw The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), plays Rose Antonia Maria Valland, who was an art historian, a member of the French Resistance, and a captain in the French armed forces; no matter how much screen time she ends up getting, I’m sure Blanchett will be great in the role. The always-reliable Bill Murray and John Goodman are on hand in more supporting roles, as other members of the team.

I think this trailer does a really good job of quickly and clearly explaining the set-up of the film. It also sells what I think could make the film a lot of fun to watch, namely the idea that this is you typical “assemble a team for a dangerous mission” story – see The Dirty Dozen (1967) and all the films it inspired – except that the heroes are all academics who are out of their comfort zone having to act like soldiers, and must learn the ropes on the fly. And I like that the vibe they’re going for seems much more like a heist movie, rather than some awards-bait drama.

However, there are a few issues I have with this trailer. While the song used here isn’t bad, I don’t think it quite fits with this film, and I say this as someone who loves the juxtaposition of modern music with period settings. Also, I think this trailer plays up the elements of humor too much. I imagine that the filmmakers wanted to get across that the movie is entertaining, and not stodgy or self-important, but I think they went too far in the other direction, because I’ve seen some comments online where people wonder if the film is supposed to be a comedy.

But my qualms aside, I still think this trailer did a good job of getting me interested in the film. Well there is, of course, no guarantee that the final film will live up to its potential, all the elements here leave me feeling optimistic. If nothing else, the idea of a “prestige” film with a big-name cast being built around the idea that knowledge, culture, and art are important and worth fighting for is something that has immense appeal for me. When Christmastime rolls around, there’s a good chance that I’ll be checking out The Monuments Men at my local theater.