Newsreel trailer for George Clooney's The Monuments Men wants you to report stolen art

Newsreel trailer for George Clooney’s The Monuments Men wants you to report stolen art

December 23rd 2013, 1:48pm

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

A new "newsreel" trailer has been released for George Clooney's THE MONUMENTS MEN, which plays like the old WWII ads that were common during that era and features some new snippets of footage from the upcoming release. Directed by Clooney, the film takes the WWII genre in a new direction as a ragtag group of art experts are thrust into the U.S. Army with the goal of recovering and sustaining art that has been taken by Hitler. So, instead of saving Private Ryan (ironically, Matt Damon), they are saving Pablo Picasso, which could've been an alternate title for the film.

Here's the "newsreel":

Here's the synopsis:

Based on the true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history, The Monuments Men is an action drama 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.

This looks like a decent enough time at the movies. Clooney puts a lot of work into his films and the cast is terrific, although it looks more light and fun than dramatic and emotional, no matter how much they change the marketing strategy. And, there's nothing wrong with that, really, as we're certainly not anticipating INGLORIOUS BASTERDS here.

THE MONUMENTS MEN, starring George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, and Cate Blanchett hits theaters on February 07, 2014.