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Thursday, March 28, 2024

At the movies – ‘Allied’

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I am slightly surprised that, to my knowledge, a film like “Allied” has not been made before.

Especially considering how successful it may have been were it released in wartime or postwar America, starring perhaps Cary Grant and Rita Hayworth.

The film, which centers around two allied spies falling in love during the Second World War, seems as though it would fit more snugly in golden age Hollywood than present day USA, but it still manages to carve out a relevant niche in the world of modern cinema.

What makes “Allied” so appealing is its utter simplicity. The main conflict stems from the British intelligence force’s questioning of whether or not the French Resistance hero played by Marion Cotillard is actually a German spy acting as a double agent.

Although flat and unnecessary at times, director Robert Zemeckis pumps it with plentiful violence and sex enough to stand up to any other contemporary war/thriller. Plus female lead Marion Cotillard fits co-star Brad Pitt’s charming flare and temperament like a glove.

Yet something about the whole thing just feels old-fashioned. Perhaps it is Mr. Pitt who is quickly finding himself on the old side of the movie star spectrum and not so much on the fashioned. It’s not that he’s incapable of delivering in this role. After all, this marks his 3rd appearance in a violent WW II thriller in the past 10 years (Inglourious Basterds, 2009/Fury, 2014) and his capability for the position certainly shows. However, the movie’s lack of swagger and daring that made Pitt’s previous to cinematic encounters with the Nazi army so memorable, causes “Allied” to fall just short of a the seductive war epic it could have been.

Robert Zemeckis, who once upon a time conquered movie theaters everywhere with “Forrest Gump” and “Back to the Future,” has a knack for giving us a blast from the past and I’ve mentioned before the inherent satisfaction we get from peering back to the days of yore.

“Allied” is fun, intense, and highly palatable even if it fails to deliver any sort of revolutionary spin on the spy or wartime romance genre.

I give Allied 3/4 stars

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Ben Sanchez
Ben Sanchez
Ben Sanchez is a recent Metea Valley Graduate. He is both an avid moviegoer and writer.

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