Monumental Mans

I didn't see this when it came out, although I did mean to. It looked decent.

The Americans are going into Europe as World War 2 ends and blowing everything up. Including art. So other Americans must go in and save the art. Because f*ck everyone else, I guess? Although there are non-Americans, but who cares about them? There's a bit of a romance subplot, but mostly there's a 'Where's the art?' subplot. And a big battle at the end... no wait, no there isn't.

I wasn't quite sure what tone this movie was aiming for. Yes, it was drama, yes it was biographical. But some scenes were serious, some were humourous, it really felt uneven. In many ways, given that this movie wasn't really about the deaths, it could easily have been a comedy, and I think it would have worked better. Not to say that war crimes against art aren't serious, but the light moments were really cutting against the other scenes, so they needed to pick one emotional thread and keep with it.

The acting was fine, although I didn't get a large sense of range from them. Although I did keep mistaking Cate Blanchette for Tilda Swinton... and, as it's all a period piece, of course the costuming and props and such are spot on.

Mostly, this just went on too long. Could easily have cut out parts and made it more cohesive. So I guess I'm glad I didn't sit in a theatre watching this.

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