Word on the street is that this is the film that broke Brad and Angelina up. To be honest.. I can see why..
Allied is a 2016 drama/war film directed by Robert Zemeckis, and written by Steven Knight who loosely based the screenplay on a true story. Allied stars Brad Pitt, Marion Cotillard, and Jared Harris as the story follows an intelligence officer in North Africa who encounters a female French Resistance fighter on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. When they reunite in London, their relationship is tested by the pressures of war as one of them might be a spy.
So Allied was a film I never expected to actually review here on theVade. Not only did I never actually plan on watching it, hell I thought it sounded pretty dumb too. But in all actuality, this has been one of the best films I’ve seen so far in 2016. Now what makes it great? Well, there are plenty of reasons why I liked this film, but the thing that surprised me the most was how much I didn’t like, as there wasn’t anything that stood out to me at first. Of course I will explain some things I eventually found, but in all this was a surprisingly good film.
So enough chitchat, lets get into what I loved about Allied. To start things off, the characters in this film were great. Brad and Marion were fantastic, These two had such great chemistry to the point where it almost made you feel like this was more than just a film they were acting in. Both of these two actors nailed their parts better than anyone else could have, and it is their convincing performances that drive this film home for me. What I really enjoyed was Marion’s intensity in each scene. She gives no hints towards the big reveal, and because she keeps her poker face up, the intensity of the reveal literally leaves people gasping in the theater.
But actors aren’t the only important part to movies, as it is the story that makes the film; and this film nails its story on every mark. The film touts that it is based on a true story, but even if it wasn’t I’d still be engrossed in the story. It’s the constant questioning from the audience that drives this film all the way home, and I’ve come to believe that the constant questions thrown at the audience is what makes this movie so great. Although a lot of my friends said the pacing in the beginning was a tad too long, I honestly didn’t feel it until after I went back to think about the film. Allied spends a good amount of time in the first act building the two characters’ and story, and although it is necessary, a lot of people have said that it took away from their initial viewing. Other than a slow first act, there wasn’t much to complain about when it came to this film’s story. The reveal at the end was fantastic, and had me screaming, “No way! No freakin’ way!” As the writing gives you another big thought to add to the numerous questions provided in the second act. Although that thought added more doubt to the audience’s questions, I feel like it would have been a lot more impactful if someone like Jared Harris’s character was the one to introduce it to the audience.
Now onto what little I didn’t enjoy about this film, and that was its use of CGI. My god are those green screens bad. Like almost Star Wars Prequels bad.. and that’s really bad. There were plenty of scenes where the CGI took me out of the film, and I felt that was just a huge flaw on the part of the film makers. Honestly, the film even starts out with a horrible green screen. Like there are scenes where you can obviously see the error in lighting, and multiple different issues alike, and with a budget 85 million, I honestly expected more.
Overall, my general opinion for this film was very positive. I went in expecting nothing, and walked out feeling very satisfied. Sure the CGI and kinda slow first act took away from the overall experience, but even I didn’t notice one of the two until someone pointed it out to me. The real star of the show was the acting and story, and In the end I decided to give Allied a “Very Good” on theVade Review Bar. This is probably one of the best films I’ve seen all year, and I honestly considered giving it the Golden V’s. Definitely go out and see it if you haven’t, as Allied will definitely be a film I will enjoy watching again and again.
