The Monuments Men

Alexandre Desplat

 
" delightful nostalgic score "

Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the regular release

The busiest composer of the last couple of years is not a composer I'm particularly fond off. The style of Alexandre Desplat is just not connecting the way I perhaps want it to, resulting in the mere fact I usually don't review his scores at all. But for The Monuments Men I wanted to make an exception. Perhaps it had to do with the mere fact I first listened to Winter Soldier (then The Monuments Men), perhaps it's got to do with the sheer fact it's old fashioned music that makes a mark, but The Monuments Men is a triumph if it ever comes down to one simple thing. No matter how you dissect or interpret your filmmusic, it needs to do one thing very clearly. And that's to move you EMOTIONALLY.

So the reason why I'm giving Alexandre Desplat a bonus point here is because he restored my faith with this one. Perhaps it's got to do as well with the mere change of tone, considering I'm not that keen on his dancing rhythms of The Grand Budapest Hotel and Fantastic Mr. Fox, his somber eerie subtleties in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Zero Dark Thirty or the nice emotional cold tones of The King's Speech. I've heard a lot, and only a few of his big blockbuster scores wowed me emotionally (The Golden Compass, Rise of the Guardians and Harry Potter: Chapter 2). But again, for The Monuments Men I wanted to make an exception, if just for the wonderful nostalgic return to marches.

Seems military based movies always have to contain marches, but the score does open first with a wonderful noble trumpet moment in "The Roosevelt Mission" that god honestly could have come from Mr. Williams himself if we didn't know any better. It seems the importance of the missions is graced by the nobility of these trumpets in the upcoming tracks as well, as it returns in "Normandy" and "Deauville".

But then we move towards the march, the uplifting, nostalgic, sometimes even western based ditty that sets "Opening Titles" delightfully in motion. It's the kind of music that the remote control fans of today will hate, and the old gang of us will appreciate all the more. It returns playfully in "Basic Training", during the wonderful warm "Stokes", erupting in full blown heroic color in "I See You, Stahl", sounds deliciously funny in "John Wayne" and emotionally cold in "Sniper" while it somehow brings a light feeling of relief in "Jean-Claude Dies" (which perhaps feels that way because of the liveliness of the theme, making it somewhat odd). The light relief of whistling makes it all the merrier during the "End Titles" cue as well, showing the theme is everywhere.

These are not the only moments that the theme gets used, but luckily there are quite a few moments of danger as well. Suspense music flavors "Ghent Altarpiece" and "Sniper", Dennis Nedry's eerie music (when he steals the embryos) spices "Intro Bruges" in the begin, trumpets and percussion fills "Jean-Claude Dies" with a bit of power, and a thrilling opening sets "Finale" truly on fire, something I wished would have continued for a longer period of time. And I can't nor would forget to mention the wonderful third theme (which first appeared in "Ghent Altarpiece") that moves you deeply with its calm beauty in "The Letter". A wonderful moment for sure.

However, truth is, my attention still kinda side tracked, which began from the middle portion on. It seems I'm not able to fully fall for Alexandre Desplat's style yet. But I don't ignore the kind of color, emotion and nostalgia he puts in his music too, especially for a project like this. It seems no matter what you throw at the man, he keeps changing color and adapting his style like a chameleon, infusing the movies with more or less the right tone (not specially this movie but others that I had specific reservations at). The Monuments Men is at times incredibly wonderful to listen to, a bit long for my liking (considering the main theme does return a bit too often for my taste), but a nostalgic enjoyable attempt nonetheless. One that shows composers like Henry Jackman how it's supposed to be done in the first place.

Track Listing

1. The Roosevelt Mission (1.20)
2. Opening Titles (2.38) Excellent track
3. Ghent Altarpiece (2.38)
4. Champagne (1.00)
5. Basic Training (1.16)
6. Normandy (1.06)
7. Deauville (2.34)
8. Stokes (1.24)
9. I See You, Stahl (2.41) Excellent track
10. John Wayne (2.17)
11. Sniper (2.35)
12. Into Bruges (1.52)
13. The Letter (3.17) Excellent track
14. The Nero Decree (1.40)
15. Stahl's Chalet (0.52)
16. Jean-Claude Dies (3.30)
17. Siegen Mine (3.05)
18. Claire & Granger (3.28)
19. Gold! (1.29)
20. Heilbronn Mine (4.24)
21. Castle Art Hoard (2.02)
22. Altaussee (0.54)
23. Finale (9.18)
24. End Credits (1.08)
25. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas: Nora Sagal (2.04)

Total Length: 60.32
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(total of 14 votes - average 3.5/5)

Released by

Sony Classical 1079140 (regular release 2014)

Orchestrations by

Jean-Pascal Beintus, Nicolas Charron & Sylvain Morizet

Performed by

The London Symphony Orchestra