Allied

Robert Zemeckis is a director who is known for pushing the limits of special effects in his films, such as the Back to the Future Trilogy, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Forrest Gump.  With Allied, he seems to be not so much concerned with pushing the envelope, but rather with telling a simple and effective old fashioned love story set against the backdrop of World War II.  Even though there is the occasional scene depicting an air bombing or a gunfight, the movie is much more focused on the lives and relationship of the two central characters.

That's why it's a little bit surprising and possibly disappointing that the two leads are not more fleshed out.  There's nothing wrong with the performances of Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard in the roles, as they have the right amount of screen chemistry to make them interesting to watch.  It's just that the movie kind of rushes through their relationship, as if screenwriter Steven Knight is anxious to get to the second half of the film, where their relationship is put to the test.  Zemeckis also seems to spend the first half of the film making more than a few nods to the film classic, Casablanca, even setting part of the action in an establishment that may as well have been called "Rick's Cafe".  It gets a little distracting, all the homages he fits in.  Fortunately, after a shaky first half hour, the movie finally finds its footing when it just focuses on the relationship of the two leads, as well as an eventual story of possible betrayal. 

The action kicks off when Canadian Intelligence Officer Max Vatan (Pitt) meets up with French Resistance Fighter Marianne Beausejour (Cotillard) for an undercover mission.  They are to pose as a married couple, and while supposedly enjoying their time together in the Moroccan city, secretly plot the assassination of a German Ambassador.  The tension of the situation, as well as the closeness of living together and trying to pass themselves off to everyone around them as a loving couple, sparks an actual romance between the two.  After the mission, he invites her to come with him to London, where he has a desk job with the military waiting for him.  The two marry and have a daughter, but complications soon arise.  The second half of the movie becomes a spy thriller, where it is discovered that someone in London is sending coded messages to the Germans, and it becomes Max's mission to track them down and execute them if necessary.

The trailers and ad campaign for Allied have already revealed that Marianne is the suspect that Max must investigate.  Zemeckis has long had a problem of revealing too much about his films with his trailers.  When he made Cast Away back in 2000, the ad campaign actually showed select scenes of Tom Hanks after he was rescued off the island.  Fortunately, the movie is able to still able to create enough tension even if you have advanced knowledge, and there are a few red herrings designed to throw the audience off the trail.  However, the mystery still manages to be fairly straight forward.  It's not really designed to be complicated, as it mostly deals with Max's torn emotions when he learns his wife may have been lying to him the entire time.  These are the moments that I found so effective.  There is genuine tension here, and like Max, we don't want to believe that this woman we've been watching the whole time is the guilty party.  As Max uncovers information during his own investigation, I found myself getting involved, and the movie started to work for me.

The film takes a personal and intimate approach to the spy story.  Aside from a few secondary characters, this is more or less a two-person film.  It never loses sight of the relationship between Max and Marianne, and by keeping it entirely in focus during the second half, it kind of adds to the tension it is trying to create.  While the movie kind of rushes through how they met and fell in love, the relationship they share and the betrayal that Max feels is very well established, and creates some genuine suspense.  And when the answers do come, the outcome is effective and appropriately powerful.  Allied may get off to a somewhat rocky start, but by the end, we are fully with these characters and feel for them.

This is not Zemeckis' best film, and I highly doubt it will be remembered come Award Time.  But, it is effective enough to work, and is well-made.  I also enjoyed the music score by Alan Silvestri, which is understated and does not overpower the action.  Allied is more than a little uneven, but it pulls itself together enough that I can say I'm glad I saw it.

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