Allied (2016)

Review

124min

Genre:      Drama, Romance, Thriller, War

Director:   Robert Zemeckis

Cast:        Brad Pitt, Marion Cotillard, Jared Harris…and more

Writer:     Steven Knight

-Synopsis-

A British/Canadian agent and French a resistance fighter develop a romance forged under-fire while undercover subverting German operations in North Africa, but their family life and bond is tested when she’s suspected of collaborating with the Nazis in this World War II drama/thriller from director Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump).

Considering where the film begins, the era in which it’s set and some of the character dynamics, it’s tempting to draw parallels with 1942 classic ‘Casablanca’ here. And given the “spy vs. spy” romance at the centre of the piece, it’s easy to brand this as ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’ do “The War”, but in reality ‘Allied’ sits somewhere between a convincing love story melodrama and gripping period spy thriller.

Brad Pitt stars as Canadian-born British World War II Wing commander “Max Vatan’; on an intelligence mission to infiltrate Nazi-occupied Casablanca and execute an operation alongside French resistance agent “Marianne Beauséjour” (Marion Cotillard), posing as his wife. When their fake field union blossoms into a real one and a new life in wartime Britain, their bond and loyalties will come into question when suspicions about “Marianne’s” allegiance and questions about her past arise, setting off a race against time to uncover the truth in this paranoid drama/thriller set at the height of the Nazi bombing of Britain.

Just over three decades of filmmaking have proven that there’s a basic level of visual quality and dramatic flair that you can expect from a Robert Zemeckis film, and ‘Allied’ certainly doesn’t buck that trend; boasting high level production designs featuring beautifully crafted costumes and everything needed to meticulously re-create the North Africa and Britain of the early 1940s. And the narrative is a mix of themes and tones; from classic wartime romance to paranoid espionage thriller, and moving between gritty suspense and quasi-poignant family drama over the course of its two hours.

Indeed this fluctuation in tone is one of the major criticisms of the film thus far, resulting in a seemingly uneven narrative and stop/start pace which has been an issue for some. But this is clearly intentional and designed to lull the audience into a false sense of security, moving from the tension of Casablanca to a “regular” family life back in Blighty, before throwing a major spanner in the works of “Max” and “Marianne’s” new life, and letting old skeletons out of the dark wartime closet.

Ultimately what really prevents ‘Allied’ from being either the sweeping classic Hollywood drama or gripping film noir-esque thriller it’s clearly trying to emulate, is the relationship at the heart of the piece. By so quickly and suddenly propelling the early war-forged infatuation into a full-on love story, ‘Allied’ never takes time to develop the relationship into a particularly convincing one, undermining the drama which then unfolds and the choices the characters make.

This is through no fault of the film’s stars Pitt and Cotillard however, who do their best but just don’t have enough material or space to work with, making us wonder whether ‘Allied’ might have worked better as a multi part TV mini-series drama. Where it would have plenty of room to weave in the tension and intrigue, but also develop the characters more and get us invested in them, perhaps more convincingly exploring the central romance and the mother/daughter relationship which the film only half-heartedly commits to.

Despite the elements which heavily hamstring the film, ‘Allied’ certainly looks the part and there’s enough intrigue and mystery to keep us hooked and guessing till the end, plus some decent tension and legitimate early thrills, which then peter out through the second and third act. But ultimately it’s stuck between a romance drama with little poignancy and the gripping thriller which it promises early on but struggles to deliver over its two hours, resulting in a well-crafted and visually impressive but only moderately captivating and unmoving romance drama/thriller, all the way to its melodramatic conclusion.

The Bottom Line…

Despite a great look coupled with some satisfying thrills and genuine intrigue, its uneven tone plus an unconvincing and underdeveloped central relationship prevent ‘Allied’ from elevating itself above an entertaining and reasonably captivating drama. Robert Zemeckis’ cinematic war effort sits comfortably between a romantic melodrama and a gripping spy thriller, without excelling at either, and just failing to capture the magic of the classic genres it tries to emulate.

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

Anthropoid (2016)

World War II period thriller based on the events of operation “Anthropoid”; a British SOE plan to use Czechoslovak resistance agents to infiltrate occupied Prague and assassinate Reinhard Heydrich; the 3rd figure in the “Third Reich” hierarchy, Himmler’s right-hand-man and one of the main architects of the Holocaust.

Directed by Sean Ellis and starring Cillian Murphy, Jamie Dornan and Charlotte Le Bon among others.

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