Slightly patterned after Casablanca, an entertaining companion to that classic.
Allied
Grade: B+
Director: Robert Zamekis (Back to the Future)
Screenplay: Steven Knight (Locke)
Cast: Brad Pitt (Fury), Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose)
Rating: R
Runtime: 124 min.
by John DeSando
“I’m very good at pretending.” Marianne (Marion Cotillard)
Indeed she is a pretender, which makes her husband Max (Brad Pitt) wonder if she is a double agent for the Germans in the WWII espionage thriller, Allied. Of course, things in that world are never as they seem, so director Robert Zamekis has a good old time jerking us around while we attempt to discover if she is a counterspy or not.
The value of a veteran like Zamekis (Forrest Gump, Back to the Future) and writer Steven Knight (Locke) is they can try something out there and not worry about failing. In this case, they dare to echo Casablanca by having this thriller set there in Morocco's Casablanca, with a Rick-like club, troubled romance, La Marseilles referenced, and a final airport scene reflecting the mutual themes of the film.
That theme is for me the element of sacrifice required in any true love, and like Rick and Ilsa, Marianne and Max must make tragic decisions that affect the war and their marriage. But that clash doesn’t come till the second half while the first half contains the tropes of intriguing romance, not melodrama. That half has elements of fine romances, including cute meeting, constant spy activity, and tragic denouement.
Oscar-winner Cotillard is no surprise as a wholly-believable femme fatale, but Pitt is a revelation as a low-key, Bogart-like hero, not an innocent as you might think because he’s a successful spy. Both actors excel under the director’s careful guidance, which must have included advice not to go over the melodramatic top. They don’t.
Despite the enjoyably romantic early scenes, Allied become less so in the latter part and defaults to the usual spy shenanigans. Nevertheless, when done well as in Casablanca and John le Carre cold-war thrillers, the two hours’ traffic is enjoyable and emotionally satisfying—after all, what couple can’t identify about the unknown depths of a partner:
“Who knows the secrets of the human heart?” The Crying Game
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts WCBE’s It’s Movie Time and co-hosts Cinema Classics. Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.rr.com
