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★★★☆☆
21 November 2016
A movie review of ALLIED. |
“We are married, why would we laugh?” Max Vatan (Brad Pitt)
If not for director Robert Zemeckis’ panache, ALLIED would be a TV movie of the week offering. Pitt’s wing commander parachuting into the desert, in a single shot, greets us. Who does not enjoy a director showing off? Love making in a sand storm, or a plane near missing a soirée, are examples of set-pieces setting the ambitious filmmaker above the majority of his Hollywood peers.
If not for director Robert Zemeckis’ panache, ALLIED would be a TV movie of the week offering. Pitt’s wing commander parachuting into the desert, in a single shot, greets us. Who does not enjoy a director showing off? Love making in a sand storm, or a plane near missing a soirée, are examples of set-pieces setting the ambitious filmmaker above the majority of his Hollywood peers.
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Espionage dealings and romantic intrigue are a bit too turgid to get the heart racing. What engages is the role reversal. Max is hooked on Marianne Beauséjour (Marion Cotillard), and rather than female swooning, it is of the male variety. Cotillard’s haughty spy is both sexy and dangerous – one is meant to wonder at her hidden depths, and that we do. ALLIED may on the surface be a war movie, but the meat of it questions how much do we ever really know about our other half. Also, what could said partner reveal about themselves that would be a relationship deal breaker?
Zemeckis’ previous, THE WALK, showcased jaw-dropping computer generated imagery, but weirdly ALLIED has the look of both being shot in a studio and shoddy green screen. The artificial surface does not help us to buy the world creation, and slightly hampers tension.
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Cotillard and Pitt are so good looking, the plot device of will-they-won’t-they does not bother to rear. A romance is forged in the crucible of an assassination mission. 1942, Casablanca, Allied agents, Max and Marianne, are tasked to take out the Nazi ambassador at a party. Normally family-friendly cinema is Zemeckis’ default (BACK TO THE FUTURE, WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT), though, here a gear shift has head shots, blood splashes and liberal smattering of the f-word.
Successful assignment, with the nagging sense of something being accomplished too easily even for a mainstream film, sends the duo engaged to London. Wed after being acquainted for days, ALLIED quickly has Marianne retired to motherhood domesticity and Max warned by boss Frank (Jared Harris), “Marriages made in the field rarely work.”
Male protagonist and audience suitably warned, and now 18 months into marital bliss, it is then revealed that the British authorities suspect Marianne of being a double agent. The rest of the runtime is second-guessing, and Max racing to determine/establish her innocence.
How much can we forgive a spouse? How much can we trust a spouse? The heightened stakes, and skillset involving professional deception, gives the arena distance and space for audiences to cogitate.
What a shame the filmmakers did not opt for a bleaker ending. The cheeseball climax, and even more misguided grace note, leaves one feeling cheated. THE GOOD GERMAN this ain’t.
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