ViewGuide

Created Dec 06, 2016 08:06PM PST • Edited Dec 11, 2016 05:07PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Great 4.0

   Casablanca it’s not, but Allied is a damn good romantic thriller set in WWII Casablanca, or at least initially set there. Most of the movie then takes place in London during the blitz, with Brad Pitt’s proto-007 thrust into domestic espionage against his wife, played by Marion Cotillard. It’s an enthralling concoction.

   Humphrey Bogart notwithstanding, the moviestar backstory to Allied revolves around Brad Pitt, whose real marriage infamously blew up shortly before the premiere. Life imitates art, or so it seems. Further, he and Angelina Jolie famously met as Mr. & Mrs. Smith, another movie about a married couple trying to kill each other, and which led to the demise of his first marriage. No wonder Hollywood marriages rarely survive!

   Now back to the enthralling concoction that is this movie. It starts off glamorous, passes through thrilling and climaxes in very affecting fashion, especially for grown-ups. These aren’t heedless kids on screen. They’re a world-wise couple with a child to raise, and yet unfathomable conflict arises in their marriage. That only happens in the movies. Allied is a great movie because we end up rooting for both him and her.

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

   Brad Pitt is a natural as a lethal spy of the James Bond variety, who then becomes a devoted family man. It’s a dutiful performance by an iconic star that taps several veins of Pitt’s moviestar persona: his portrayal of WWII characters in Fury & Inglorious Basterds, his loving father roles in World War Z & Moneyball, and even his comically murderous husband opposite future wife Angelina Jolie in Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

   Marion Cotillard matches up well with him as a resistance fighter operating as an undercover assassin. She’s not lethally beautiful, but is surpassingly talented. Her final scene is movie acting par excellence.

   • Jared Harris is appropriately stuffy as a British intelligence officer.
   • Lizzy Caplan is saucily intelligent as Pitt’s lesbian sister.
   • Simon McBurney is apparently the actor to cast when the script calls for a sniveling intelligence official. First, the recent Mission Impossible and now Allied.

5. Male Stars Great 4.0

6. Female Stars Great 4.0

7. Female Costars Very Good 3.5

8. Male Costars Great 4.0

10. Film

    Great 4.0

    Allied’s story is pretty clear from the trailer, and yet secrets unfold throughout the film, often circling back to revisit previous clues. Bravo to writer Steven Knight and director Robert Zemeckis.

11. Direction Great 4.0

    Robert Zemeckis remains a superior filmmaker. To wit, the opening scene of Allied dazzles with a fresh take on something we’ve seen countless times, a parachutist dropping to a landing. First the horizon appears and it’s not clear what we’re seeing, and then an odd angle brings a desert landscape into view, and it’s still not clear what we’re seeng. Ultimately it becomes clear that the view is through the cords of a parachute, which by then has gently lowered its passenger to the ground. Bravo!

    Zemeckis has been a must-see director for 30 years now, most recently with Flight.

12. Play Great 4.0

    Steven Knight proved he could make a man driving an SUV compelling in Locke. Imagine what he can do with a WWII romantic spy story!

13. Music Very Good 3.5

14. Visuals Really Great 4.5
15. Content

16. Edge

    Sordid 2.9

17. Sex Titillating 2.5

18. Violence Savage 3.6

19. Rudeness Salty 2.5

21. Reality

    Glib 1.4

    Steven Knight has apparently said the core of the story has been passed down in his family.

22. Circumstantial Surreal 2.1

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0