Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard team up in this uneven WWII espionage drama.
More so than not, Allied feels like an inferior copy of the war movies it’s clearly trying to imitate. During the first act in particular, I feared it was going to be a disaster. Luckily there were just enough stand out moments thrown in to make it one to watch – uneven, sure – but watchable nonetheless.
It tells the story of two Allied forces operatives – a French resistance fighter named Marianne Beausejour (Marion Cotillard) and a Canadian intelligence officer named Max Vatan (Brad Pitt). The beautiful leads, who at this point pretend to be married, are on a mission to take out Nazis in occupied North Africa.
After business comes pleasure.
Max and Marianne fall in love and get married for real (at least in the film anyway) and even have a child. Unfortunately the honeymoon period doesn’t last very long. As the trailer explains, Max is informed that his wife could be working with German forces to provide sensitive intelligence.
To make things worse, if she is proven to be a spy, Max will have to kill her with his own hands or be hanged himself. From this point on, Allied becomes a game of ‘is she or isn’t she?’ If you want the answer, you’ll have to head to the cinema to find out.
Although this is one of Director, Robert Zemeckis’ weakest movies, we’re presented with a few moments that remind us why he’s arguably one of the greatest filmmakers currently out there. After all, he gave us Forrest Gump, Back to the Future and Cast Away. Although he takes his time to build the suspense, he eventually gets there – resulting in an edge-of-your-seat third act.
Despite the team behind this, there are by far more flaws than there should be. However, Allied is entertaining enough to warrant the ticket price.
Mikey Clarke
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Genres: Drama & Romance
Cast: Brad Pitt, Marion Cotillard, Jared Harris, Simon McBurney, Lizzy Caplan & Matthew Goode.
Running Time: 2hrs 5mins
Director: Robert Zemeckis
See Allied and much more at Showcase Cinema, Peterborough. Visit www.showcasecinemas.co.uk for the latest up-to-date show times. You can also join the chat on Twitter @showcasecinemas or on Facebook by searching for ‘Showcase Cinemas’.
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