So, what is “Monuments Men“? A WWII version of “Ocean’s Eleven“? A lighter take on “The Good German” era? Well, whatever the film turns out to be, it’s a consciously lighter turn from writer/actor/director George Clooney. “[Producer] Grant [Heslov] and I were looking to do a film that was less cynical than a lot of the films we do,” Clooney told USA Today, and with the first trailer for this upcoming movie arriving today, it’ll prove that point.
The film rounds up an outstanding group of players—Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville and John Goodman—to tell the vey true story of WWII platoon tasked with rescuing plundered art from the Nazis. “It’s been a long time (since) you could find a new story about World War II,” Clooney said, perhaps revealing he has yet to watch John Frankheimer‘s breathless thriller “The Train,” which covers similar territory and is also based on a true story. That being said, that movie is nearly 50 years old and we’re more than happy to see this gang take it on. Here’s the synopsis:
Based on the true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history, The Monuments Men is an action-thriller focusing on an unlikely World War II platoon, tasked by FDR with going into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and returning them to their rightful owners. It would be an impossible mission: with the art trapped behind enemy lines, and with the German army under orders to destroy everything as the Reich fell, how could these guys – seven museum directors, curators, and art historians, all more familiar with Michelangelo than the M-1 – possibly hope to succeed? But as the Monuments Men, as they were called, found themselves in a race against time to avoid the destruction of 1000 years of culture, they would risk their lives to protect and defend mankind’s greatest achievements.
“Monuments Men” opens on December 18th. Trailer and new pics from the film below.
