Allied, 2016.
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Starring Brad Pitt, Marion Cotillard, Jared Harris, Lizzy Caplan, Simon McBurney and Matthew Goode
SYNOPSIS:
In 1942, an intelligence officer in North Africa encounters a female French Resistance fighter on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. When they reunite in London, their relationship is tested by the pressures of war.
Allied, the latest effort from Robert Zemeckis has unfortunately, like so many others, has been afflicted with an awful advertising campaign. In the 2 minute trailer the key points of the whole film are laid out, making the experience of actually watching it quite tedious.
Max Vatan (Pitt) is an intelligence officer who is tasked with assassinating a German ambassador. He pairs up with Mariann Beausejour (Cotillard) a French Resistance fighter and the two spend the first half of the film flirting, firing guns and exchanging some cringeworthy dialogue. We’re waiting for the “twist” that’s been revealed in the trailer. Is Mariann a German Spy? Has Max been fooled? Is it all a game? These are interesting questions but when your characters are so vapid and poorly explored it’s a bit difficult to care. A lack of chemistry between the leads is a key reason why Allied simply doesn’t work. These two tremendous actors occasionally click but for a majority of the film it seems like Pitt is phoning it in and Cotillard is simply doing the best she can with it. There are also leaps in time that make it unable to invest in these characters.
Zemekis is usually a solid director when he’s directing live action but here it seems he’s spending so much time trying to evoke the 1940s that he’s forgotten that the plot is just as important. There are also examples of horrifyingly bad CGI littered throughout. One scene where Max and Mariann are sitting watching the sunrise on what might be their last day alive; you can almost see the line where the fake sandpit their sitting in ends and the green screen begins.
There are a few decent shots throughout. A well choreographed sex scene taking place in a sandstorm works well and the suspense of the final act does ramp up to almost Hitchcockian levels. It is then betrayed by a Hollywood-ised sugary ending that I believe will disappoint many viewers. Whether this was the screenwriters intention or studios have interfered, it is a soppy end to a film which had so much promise and delivered so little.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Helen Murdoch
Originally published December 2, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
