Movie Reaction: Allied

Formula: Bridge of Spies * Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Every time I think that Hollywood has found every way to tell a WWII story, someone inevitably finds a new corner to explore it. I'm starting to wonder if the challenge is the appeal. In Hacksaw Ridge, did Mel Gibson want the challenge of a battlefield hero who doesn't kill anyone? For Fury, was David Ayer thinking, "can a tank be the center of a story?" I'm not even sure what to call Robert Zemeckis' WWII perspective in Allied. Desert and urban London wartime espionage, perhaps?

The story is broken into two parts. The first is Max Vatan (Brad Pitt) landing in Morocco. He's a - I want to say - Canadian spy pretending to be the husband of an agent who is already in place. That other agent is Marianne Beausejour (Marion Cotillard). Before long, their cover story turns into genuine feelings for one another. After they complete their mission, they move back to London and get married. A year later, Max is a rising government agent and Marianne is raising their daughter. Then, Max is informed that Marianne may be a spy for the Germans. While that's being investigated, he must pretend that nothing is wrong, and he conducts his own investigation to figure out if his whole life is a lie.

It's tense stuff toward the end and requires two leads as good as Pitt and Cotillard, although I should note that while they are co-leads in Morocco, Cotillard falls into a supporting role out of necessity back in London. Pitt and Cotillard are old pros at these kinds of roles, the action movie parts and the espionage.

Both parts of the film have good elements, but I much preferred Morocco. Visually, the direction is more engaged there. Hollywood hasn't explored that area as much, so there's a lot to take in, the deserts and the architecture. Also, Pitt and Cotillard are on equal footing there, which is more interesting. Their operation is quite exciting too. London is quieter. It's all about gathering intelligence and deciphering glances and pauses. What isn't said is as important as what is. There are a lot of grace notes in depicting how things in London were "business as usual" despite rationing and constant air strikes (Stay calm and carry on). I wasn't crazy about how the story climaxes. There's a few ways they could've gone and what they chose was the easiest and/or most obvious [to me].

Allied lacks a single sequence as impressive as in Zemickis's last two films (The plane crash in Flight or the tight-rope walk in The Walk). It is equally cinematic though overall and has a great deal of star presence. That's enough for me to enjoy it. It feels like this year's Bridge of Spies: a thoroughly accomplished boomer drama from one of Hollywood's most broadly-appealing titans. I find it equally as hard to believe that this will be anyone's favorite or least favorite movie this year. That's not a bad place to be in.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend