Jean-Paul’s rating: 2/5 stars
Bottom Line: Either a poorly done love story that wants to be a spy story or a poorly done spy story that wants to be a love story.
“Allied” opens with Max Vatan (Brad Pitt) parachuting from a plane somewhere over the deserts of northern Africa. The camera pans and rolls and moves through the fabric of the parachute as Max floats to the ground. This is the first in a series of really weird camera views interspersed throughout the movie. As if the director can bring some sort of liveliness to the movie to a pedestrian movie through camera stunts. And pedestrian is the right word because we’re then treated to Max walking through the desert for 5 minutes. Yep, pacing is going to be a problem in this movie.
Max is a Canadian spy and he’s in Africa to meet up with his “wife”, Marianne Beausejour (Marion Cotillard), a French resistance spy, so they can assassinate a Nazi ambassador. Because that’s how you win wars, by assassinating random ambassadors. Their master plan is to snag a rare invitation to a heavily armed and secure party for the ambassador, hid guns under the drinks table, and flip over the table and shoot up the place when the ambassador arrives. This plan somehow works. Oh, and they also fall in love in the short period of time they are together even though most of the time is spent talking about how falling in love is stupid for spies.
Fast forward a few years and they’re married and have a one year old child. But what’s this? Marianne may be a Nazi spy? The real Marianne Beausejour was reported killed? What’s a doting husband to do with this information? This could make for a good movie! But instead, we’re treated to Max doing a bunch of stupid things to try to prove her innocence. There is some intrigue that makes for some decent suspense, but that doesn’t last too long because of the absurdity of the whole Max side of the story. Then there’s the ending which is ridiculously drawn out even though you know exactly how it must end.
Was Marianne a spy? I guess you’ll have to not watch the movie and not find out. Because really, you shouldn’t see this movie. It is mostly lifeless except for the acting ability of the two stars. Such a shame because a double agent wife has such great possibilities and they are mostly spoiled in this movie.