Movie Review: Stars don't always click in Allied
Casablanca came to mind when I watched this romance.
It's clear Zemeckis was inspired by the 1942 Humphrey Bogart-Ingrid Bergman Oscar-winning romance.
That sweeping, old-Hollywood feel is definitely present.
And there are the two absolutely gorgeous leads.
Brad Pitt digs deep to channel his best Peter O'Toole in Lawrence Of Arabia impression. He certainly looks the part, dashing in his crisp three-piece suits, playing up his matinee-idol good looks.
Marion Cotillard could not be more glamorous in her slinky gowns. She plays the role of the femme fatale well.
This World War II film is one great-looking film.
Zemeckis deserves a pat on the back for creating such a picturesque world despite the war setting.
The storytelling and dialogue are straightforward. You get what you see and hear. There's no intrigue for a film that revolves around spies.
Pitt and Cotillard's chemistry fluctuates. Sometimes they click, sometimes they don't. Thankfully, there's more pros than cons.
Looks can only take Pitt that far and his performance comes across flat and stiff.
Cotillard, as usual, is strong and magnetic, and is clearly the more talented half of the duo.
Pitt seemed more alive as the over-the-top Nazi killer Lieutenant Aldo Raine in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (2009).
It's also hard not to think about Pitt's fun and energetic work in Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), another flick about spies falling in love.
That action-comedy, of course, led to Pitt's relationship with Angelina Jolie, which said a lot about the sizzling chemistry in that film.
There were rumours that Pitt had a thing with Cotillard while they were filming Allied, but judging from what I see from the screen, those tales seem pure fabrication.
RATING: 3/5
STARRING: Brad Pitt, Marion Cotillard, Jared Harris, Matthew Goode, Lizzy Caplan
DIRECTOR: Robert Zemeckis
THE SKINNY: Canadian intelligence officer Max Vatan (Pitt) and French resistance fighter Marianne Beausejour (Cotillard) are tasked to play husband and wife on a dangerous mission in Casablanca. Fireworks ensue, and play-acting becomes real. They both retreat to London to start a new life. That is, until Marianne's past catches up with them.
Rating: M18
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