This Robert Zemeckis helmed WWII romance-drama doesn’t exactly live up to its potential. While the production and costume designs were impressive, I found the performances particularly that of Brad Pitt, to be stilted and a story that failed to connect emotionally.
Allied
(2016)
Genre(s): Drama, Romance, War
Paramount | R – 124 min. – $29.99 | February 28, 2017
Date Published: 03/03/2017 | Author: The Movieman
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THE MOVIE — 3.0/5 |
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If anyone has read my reviews long enough, you know I have an interest in World War II movies (be it documentary form, based on a true story or fictionalized) and so any movie taking place during that era piques my interest. As was the case for Robert Zemeckis’s Allied, a beautiful looking movie that had potential, much of it squandered with clichés and stilted acting.
Allied opens in 1942, intelligence officer Max Vatan (BRAD PITT) travels to Casablanca where he’s to me with French resistance fighter Marianne Beausejour (MARION COTILLARD) and the pair is to pose as man and wife, eventually they do fall for one another consummating their relationship by making love in a car in the midst of a sand storm (only in Casablanca I suppose). Their mission is to assassinate the German ambassador, a task which goes off relatively well as they manage succeed and escape. Months later, the two wed and have a baby girl named Anna, settling down in Hampstead. For a year, Max and Marianne appear to be the perfect couple with Max working at a desk for the military while she remains home with their child. But when Max is called in by the Special Operations Executive accusing Marianne of being a German spy, things go awry after being ordered to leave bad intel for her to find and if relayed, it will prove she is a spy after which point he must execute her by his own hand.
Despite being told not to investigate on his own, Max ignores the order and conducts one tracking down those who knew Marianne from a man named Guy Sangster (MATTHEW GOODE) who was blinded and injured but wasn’t much help though points Max to another lead where he takes even more risks to uncover the truth. Allied certainly had a lot going for it from a respectable cast and award-worthy costume and production designs (the former did get an Oscar nomination), yet for whatever reason the story never fully came together and instead of any sense of originality, it’s just filled with romance-war clichés. Another issue is, oddly, with Brad Pitt who came across as a robot most of the time while Marion Cotillard at least had aroma of mystery about her. The direction from Robert Zemeckis is rather paint-by-numbers which is what one should come to expect from him.
In the end, there were some entertaining and even emotional moments so it makes Allied worthy of a rental and if you’re moderately interested in World War II era films, it is as a minimum satisfactory in that regard. Satisfactory, but also rather forgettable which is a shame. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 3.75/5 |
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This release comes with a glossy slip cover and inside is a redemption code for the Digital HD copy. The movie comes with no less than 10 featurettes (1:07:54; HD), each covering various aspects and includes behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with members of the cast and crew.
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4K VIDEO – 5.0/5, BD VIDEO – 4.5/5
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| Allied comes to Paramount presented with a 2.40 widescreen aspect ratio and comes with a 2160p ultra-high definition (1080p for the Blu-ray). Given the tone of the film, one might not think it lends very well for 4K but I was quite impressed as the picture showcases natural looking skin tones and there are some pops of color here there. Where it does excel, in both the UHD and BD, is with the sharp-looking detail levels. It’s probably not relatively reference material, but worthy of showing off nevertheless. |
AUDIO – 4.5/5 |
| For some odd reason, this romantic-war flick only gets the standard DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track (on both the UHD and BD) and while it is a half decent lossless track showing off fine depth during the war-centric scenes (such as bombings) as well as crisp and clear dialogue, however I would’ve thought this would’ve gotten the Atmos treatment or at the very least, 7.1 channels… As it stands, it is still a fine track. |
OVERALL – 3.5/5 |
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Overall, this Robert Zemeckis helmed WWII romance-drama doesn’t exactly live up to its potential. While the production and costume designs were impressive, I found the performances particularly that of Brad Pitt, to be stilted and a story that failed to connect emotionally. This UHD release from Paramount does offer up excellent video and audio transfers and the features were pretty good. |
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.