Allied review

Ok, I lied, I am writing this on the 15th December.

Allied is directed by Robert Zemeckis and is about two spies in World War Two, who, after a mission in Casablanca, fall in love. Later the husband is informed his wife may be a German spy.

It would have been interesting to watch the film without knowing about the spy twist. But it was shown in the trailer and if it weren't for that I probably wouldn't have seen it. I wish they didn't show it in the trailer because the film did not work for me at all.

In a film centred around the relationship between two people it is essential that you believe that they are a couple for the film to work. I did not believe for a second in Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard's characters as a couple. They share very little on screen chemistry and their relationship feels very rushed. They are in Morocco for a week, in which they keep it professional until the last day. Then suddenly Brad wants Marion to come back to London with him because they are so in love. Suddenly they're married, now there's a kid, now they're happy, and maybe she's a German spy. It also doesn't help that Brad Pitt shows about five variations of the same expression throughout the film: Happy Brad, Sad Brad, Confused Brad, Angsty Brad and Angry Brad (that could easily become a mobile game). Marion Cotillard was good though.

Robert Zemeckis is known for advancing cinema and for his use of both practical and digital effects, so it is rather odd of him to choose to take on this film when it is a lot more personal with a lot less standout scenes. And the scenes which he tries to make spectacles often come off as cheesy. Scenes inside a car during a sandstorm and a birth during an air raid stand out as completely out of place. I liked one of the previous films Steven Knight wrote, Locke, but I really disliked the characters and the story he created here. Maybe one of the true stories of which this film is based on are more interesting than the fictional one here.

In short: Allied doesn't work for several reasons but mainly the central relationship is not believable.

I forgot to review The Accountant. So that will be next instead of A United Kingdom.