Allied

2016 "The enemy is listening."
7.1| 2h4m| R| en| More Info
Released: 23 November 2016 Released
Producted By: Paramount
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.alliedmovie.com/
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.

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Turfseer Poor Brad Pitt! Like his heartthrob predecessor before him, Paul Newman, he bitterly resents the eye candy appellation bestowed upon him by millions of star-struck women worldwide. As a reaction formation, he has consistently been determined to prove that he's a legitimate actor and seeks out roles that suggest at his deepest core, that he has "heart." Here he's playing Canadian RAF wingman turned spy, Max Vatan, parachuting into 1942 French Morocco (specifically Casablanca) under the auspices of British intelligence. The mission is to hook up with the French Resistance agent, Marianne Beauséjour (famed French actress Marion Cotillard) and assassinate the German ambassador. Veteran famed director Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump) along with screenwriter Steven Knight have fashioned an homage to the grand old War War II espionage thrillers of yesteryear, specifically the Humphrey Bogart-Ingrid Bergman classic, Casablanca, as well as perhaps Hitchcock's Notorious, featuring Cary Grant teamed up with the ubiquitous Bergman. Notably, the city of Casablanca receives Zemeckis' rather squeaky clean, art deco makeover that will impress those who yearn for some heady nostalgia. Unfortunately, the first half of Allied proves not only lugubrious but rather unconvincing plot-wise. There's the whole problem of Max's non-Parisian accent which Marianne is convinced she can help improve in a week's time-enough to fool a coterie of unsuspecting Germans they are required to deceive. Not buying it! Worse is the mission itself. What good can come from knocking off the German Ambassador? Can't the Germans simply replace him? And killing Germans seems to be a rather easy feat in Vichy controlled Casablanca. Before the big assassination scene, Max chokes a German officer to death in a bathroom believing that he's encountered him before (fearing his cover might be blown). No manhunt ensues and presumably, none of the witnesses came forward to place Max and Marianne at the scene. We later find out in the second half that the German Ambassador was some sort of "dissident" and the assassination was ordered by Hitler himself, with Max as a dupe and (SUPER SPOILERS AHEAD) Marianne acting as a double agent for the Germans. If you believe it you also have to believe that Hitler was willing to sacrifice dozens of German soldiers to keep up the pretense, after Max and Marianne rather conveniently mow them all down with machine guns they surreptitiously (and again rather easily) brought to the Ambassador's residence. The "meat" of the story is only introduced in the second half of the film when Max is informed by the super-secret V-section of British intelligence that they believe Marianne is a double agent. They devise a test where Max receives classified information and writes it down on a notepad after receiving a call from them in the middle of the night. If the info pops up from intercepted German communications in the next few days, that's proof that Marianne is a spy who culled it from Max's notepad. The ugly revelation propels Max to find a way to disprove the more than dispiriting allegations. By now it's established that Max and Marianne are truly in love, having produced a child within a year's time after they've returned to London. Many critics have decried a lack of chemistry between the principals and it's probably because Max is too taciturn of a character to believe he's fallen completely head over heels for the far more emotional Marianne. Screenwriter Knight attempts to establish the existence of a strong bond between the two through an early lovemaking scene in a sandstorm prior to the couple's return to London, where perhaps anxiety over constant Nazi buzz bomb attacks is enough to suggest a deep love connection. Knight is much more successful in the denouement when he finally affords Pitt the opportunity to become much more animated and emotive. Max, against orders, flies to France to question Delamare, a former spy now imprisoned in a Vichy jail, who is the only one who can disprove that Marianne is working for the Germans. He notes he saw her play La Marseilles on the piano a few years before so, in the film's second most dramatic scene, Max brings her to a pub and insists that she play the song on a piano there. Of course, she's unable to do so, proving indeed she's been a double agent all along. Max, still in love with her, wants to escape to Switzerland and drives to the air base with her and baby in tow. Marianne insists that she's been in love with Max since Casablanca and basically argues that her handlers forced her (by threatening to harm her child) to continue with her spy activities. The climax is actually kind of touching with Marianne committing suicide and Max's friend Colonel Frank Heslop (Jared Harris) preventing Max from being court-martialed after he failed to follow orders to kill Marianne had he learned she was a spy. It's a little too late, but Pitt shows his "heart" as much later he becomes the father who raised a daughter, who never knew her mother (Cotillard gets to read a dramatic, emotional letter she writes to the daughter a day before she kills herself). Allied is reasonably entertaining despite the lugubrious pacing and not so believable plot machinations early on. See it for Cotillard's intense performance. As for Pitt, give him a "B" for effort, despite being saddled with such a taciturn role.
michalis-despotakis This flick's highlights is probably all the dead nazis
mrharrypaulson I always thought of Robert Zemeckis as a hit or miss director. I hated Beowulf but I loved Death Becomes Her for instance. Allied falls right in the middle. An old fashion WWII drama and when I say old fashion I mean, musty, tired. Mr and Mrs Smith territory but with the major plus of Marion Cottillard. She is wonderful. Brad Pitt, who I love, looked like a special effect and being in a Robert Zemeckis movie I thought that he might be. Very strange. The simple premise of discovering that your spouse is not who you thought she was, opens a world of dramatic opportunities but there is something about Robert Zemeckis that makes me think he doesn't really care about the human interaction, no. he seems, always, much more focus in the special effects. Allies is no exception and in fact it has a couple of breathtaking visual coups. Unfortunately the actual drama left me completely cold.
minamarty-34309 Beautiful movie with unexpected final. Marion Cotillard's acting is excellent.