Review of Allied (2016) by Brohug — 11 Dec 2016

Enjoyable fare. Bit of a mashup of the old and the new: "Casablanca", "The English Patient", "Mr. and Mrs. Smith". After a fairly electrifying opening act as Pitt and Cotillard's characters meet cute for a Nazi assassination attempt in Vichy French Morocco, they return to England to settle in to life as a married couple. Pitt resumes his job as an Canadian Air Force intelligence officer aiding the war effort as the tide begins to turn for the Allies. Cotillard, after delivering a daughter, is the doting housewife and mother who seems happy to be married and in love during the Blitz of London. However, all the hints are there that maybe her spycraft didn't get left behind in Casablanca.

Brad Pitt has that Hollywood-of-Yesteryear sheen to him that makes him "look" the part of a dashing WWII spy and hero, but is frankly flat for most of the picture including some scenes that demand some real emotional range. However, Marion Cotillard is another animal altogether. To say that she is the perfect modern actress to play a WWII French spy would be, ahem, quite the understatement. The film camera and lighting drink up her beautiful features, pretty much the case in any film she is in. A pro's pro at such a young age, she bilingually acts with an uncanny effortlessness.

Robert Zemeckis is an incredibly underrated and versatile director. "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and "Polar Express" anyone? But he also doesn't appear to have a cynical bone in his body based on films like "Contact" and "Castaway", so the last act here also is not as gripping as it should have been either. The middle of the film's intrigue is, well..., kind of shapeless and perhaps speaks to a sentimental blindspot in the director's narrative approach. Pitt and Cotillard have some serious sizzle in their early love scenes, including the ultimate car makeout cloaked in the privacy of a desert sandstorm. That might not do much to quell some of the rumors tied to the Brangelina breakup. Also, speaking of romance, Medicine Hat Alberta gets some serious love here too.