Allied is the latest film from acclaimed director Robert Zemeckis.
The film follows the story of two spies during World War II who meet, fall in
love, and get married before some revelation or rumor bubbles to the surface
and drives the primary mystery plot forward. The film stars Brad Pitt, Marion
Cotillard, Jared Harris, Simon McBurney, and Lizzy Caplan. Overall, this film
struck me as a pretty basic storyline that didn’t get me overly invested but
was executed extremely well.
Zemeckis absolutely nails the
direction in this film. Every bit of the execution of this film felt completely
competent and successful. All of the actors did their jobs well, the
cinematography by Don Burgess was stunning, Alan Silvestri’s score was well
incorporated, and the story evolved rationally and interestingly. If I step
back from the story and look at it as objectively as possible, this is probably
one of the best made films of the year.
Pitt and Cotillard star in this film
and carry the story and emotional weight on their backs. Both of them deliver
competent performances that had moments that really invested me in the story.
Cotillard in particular has a certain presence about her that she brings to
this film to really great effect and made it distinctly more enjoyable to
watch.
The last real positive I had with
this film was its use of language. It always shifted into the proper language for
the geography or situation which gave the film a really genuine and positive
feel. I also enjoyed the consideration and interest in accents (particularly
with French) that gave the film yet another layer of realness. The film also
trusts that the audiences has some worldly experience and doesn’t subtitle or
translate everything said in a foreign language. I can see some people missing
some things here or there but overall it allowed me to get more into the film
and less worried about reading the subtitles.
The biggest problem I had with
this film is that I didn’t get invested. Despite the skillful execution in this
film I didn’t get emotionally invested in the story and I frequently felt that
the characters were doing things that didn’t make sense or were generally
unwise. I also found that the pacing dragged a bit (especially in the middle
portion where there are some time jumps) which caused me to care even less
about the things going on in the film.
Overall, Allied was a solid film. It was tremendously competent. Properly
made and well directed but lacked a story that earned the proper investment
from the audience. Worthwhile film to check out though!
Ryan’s Score: 8/10
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