Review of Allied (2016) by Jacob F — 07 Aug 2017

Robert Zemeckis is known for making classic, extremely watchable films (Forrest Gump, Back to the Future) but provides a rare misfire with his new film Allied. Allied desperately wants to be a modern day Casablanca, but completely fails on nearly every front.

Brad Pitt is usable a solid actor, that can consistently buy out good performances, however here he is completely wooden, and unbelievable. Never changing his tone of voice, or facial expressions in even the scenes that should illicit the most emotion (except for a rushed ending, where he quickly scrunches up his face, desperately trying to squeeze out a tear) it's a rare kind of bad performance, where even a statue could take his place, and bring out the same level of emotional complexity, and charm that he puts on display here. Marion Cotillard is a different story, she puts forward a mysterious, understated, and engaging performance, but is let down by a lack of screen time, and a poorly written script.

The script is truly abysmal. It forces the unbelievable romance of these two characters down the viewers throat, and expects you to believe that they legitimately fall in love after one night of sex in a car, and murdering a nazi ambassador. Immediately after these two events Brad Pitts character is smitten, and wants to move to Paris for marriage. It's just unbelievable. The ending also throws away any suspense built up over the last two hours, on a forced "emotional" death.

There are few minor positives here. The costume, and set design are absolutely top notch. They build the time period, and style of the 1940's extremely well, making the viewer truly feel like it's taking place in that time. Robert Zemeckis direction is a mixed, poorly paced slog, but does offer a couple of legitimately well done action sequences. They left me wanting more, but they sadly never came.

Allied is something that should be skipped and is a true disappointment, especially considering how much talent is on both sides of the camera. Skip it, and watch the actual Casablanca instead.