Allied Movie Review

Article by Gabe Zia

Lazy Film Critic Movie Reviews

Allied

So earlier today I saw the latest film from classic 90s director Robert Zemeckis, starring Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard. Allied is a  WWII drama centred around a Canadian spy and a French spy who meet while undercover on a mission, and over the course of their mission slowly develop a relationship, but find themselves tested by the struggles of the war. And unlike the trailers, I'm going to leave it there, do not watch the trailers for this movie under any circumstance.

First off, everything you've heard about Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard in this movie is spot on, they are both at the top of their game and have the chemistry to prove it. Brad Pitt delivers an outstanding performance to compliment his characters story arc in this movie, one that shows him slowly but visibly and in subtle ways becoming unhinged. Marion Cotillard is for once not being criminally underused in a Hollywood film, so its nice to see a mainstream film actually take advantage of the outstanding talent she has for emotionally compelling and nuanced characters. Her character in this film isn't one I could see just anyone playing, and she did an excellent job with it.

What also compliments this film is the outstanding script written by Steven Knight. While most films would have dived right into the plot of the second act of this film, this film really takes its time and allows the audience to get to know the characters, and gives the plot space to breath. That's not to say the film's boring, no, the film manages to be very compelling during its quieter moments, and it keeps its audience engaged by way of interesting dialogue, dialogue-based suspense, and mystery-espionage. In a film with all of two action sequences - which I'll add are both really well done - this movie manages to keep its audiences attention all the way through.

However, my biggest gripe or bummer with Allied isn't even a problem with the film itself, it's with the marketing. The reason I've said not to watch the trailers for this movie, just take my word that it's good and you should see it, is that the trailer completely spoils key plot points in the second act. I deeply envy anyone who saw this film without seeing any trailers, I imagine it was an outstanding experience. And while it is something outside of the film, it tampered with my experience overall because I knew what was coming for the first half of the movie. So all I can say is, if you have managed to avoid the trailers, keep doing that, and go see this movie as soon as you can before someone ruins it for you.

Final Rating
Allied was an absolutely fantastic film, its only real flaw being a rather gaping issue in its marketing, which even still didn't manage to ruin my experience. If you want a compelling and fascinating WWII drama-romance thriller, Allied is exactly the film for you.