Imagine the Ocean’s 11 gang (minus a little pizazz and with a few different team members) traveling back to World War II Europe to rescue artwork from Nazi art thieves and you’ve got the premise (more or less) for The Monuments Men, George Clooney’s next feature. In addition to co-adapting the script from Robert M. Edsel’s non-fiction book (with Grant Heslov) and directing the upcoming feature (which has a US release date of December 18), Clooney stars as George Stout, the head of an eight-member platoon of art historians and museum curators. Included in the platoon is Matt Damon (Elysium), John Goodman (Argo), Bill Murray (Moonrise Kingdom), Bob Balaban (Moonrise Kingdom), Jean Dujardin (The Artist), and Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey). Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine) rounds out the cast as a presumed love interest for Damon’s James Rorimer.
The teaser poster for the upcoming feature ‘The Monuments Men’.
The trailer itself is more of an overall introduction to the plot and the platoon, but focuses mostly on Clooney and Damon. Obviously, the film is relying on the star power, in addition to the historical aspect, both of which are my driving interests in the film, regardless of whatever dramatic tweaks Clooney and Heslov added during the film’s production. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing more of the team in future trailers (and the film, of course), especially more of Dujardin and Bonneville, whom we glimpse in the 100-second-long trailer. As for the music, it doesn’t quite fit the historical and dramatic nature, but I’m willing to overlook that, as Alexandre Desplat is scoring the film, and he has had some solid film scores in recent years (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The King’s Speech, etc.)
A production photo from the upcoming ‘Monuments Men’ featuring (l to r) John Goodman, Matt Damon, George Clooney, Bob Balaban, and Bill Murray.
Either way, it’s a decent teaser trailer for a prime Oscar-bait film that I’m certainly looking forward to come December.
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