In George Clooney‘s latest starring and directing vehicle, he plays George Stout, a WWI veteran and esteemed Harvard art conservation expert. As Hitler and the Third Reich sough to destroy hundreds of years of irreplacable art, Stout played a key role in helping to secure a team to extract these priceless pieces before they were met with flames. 

Under his command, served fellow soldier and art enthusiast James Rorimer (Matt Damon) alongside a ragtag group of art historians turned quick soldiers played by giants like Bill Murray, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville and John Goodman.

The official synopsis for The Monuments Men reads:

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.

While the first trailer caught some off-guard with its amplified sense of comedy, this second edition focuses more on the dramatic gravitas, nudging it further into its Oscar contender slot.

The Monuments Men is written, starrings and directed by George Clooney. It also stars Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville and John Goodman. It hits theaters in the thick of Oscar season on December 18.

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