ALLIED (2016) Review
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
What is love without tragedy? Robert Zemeckis’ war drama romance starring Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard is charming but heartbreaking. It’s authentic in telling its story set in the 1940s, from how it looks to how it feels. And while everything may look perfect, Allied lacks depth.
The film tells the story of intelligence officer Max Vatan, who in 1942 North Africa encounters French Resistance fighter Marianne Beausejour on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. Reunited in London, their relationship is threatened by the extreme pressures of the war.
The story is simple, told in a classic way. But as Allied’s story spans in years, it had to skip some of the emotional journey the film could’ve presented. Everything still looked fine from afar, knowing how the two met, and how they develop, maybe. But it doesn’t get to be emotionally intimate as you want it to be. Cotillard and Pitt looked perfect for each other in the film, their chemistry screams meant to be but it often goes there.
You’ll leave the cinema heartbroken, with the hope of having not to live the dangerous times Max and Marianne have lived. Director Robert Zemeckis might have worked with how the film starts and ends but you’ll feel that it lacks something in the middle, something that would have made the ending sadder, more heartbreaking. But from afar, everything looks beautiful until you get to the tragic ending.
3.5 OUT OF 5 STARS
“Allied” is now showing in Philippine cinemas nationwide from United International Pictures through Columbia Pictures. Rated R-16 by the MTRCB.