Set in the year 1942, an intelligence officer Max (Brad Pitt) meets a female resistance fighter (Marion Cotillard) and the two are assigned to complete a mission behind enemy lines. From the success of the mission, they soon form a relationship, marriage and a loving family. Things become tested after time when Max is informed that his wife and the mother of his child, could in fact be an impostor.

It’s no surprise that actor Brad Pitt has once again been called to be the leading star in a war movie. His past war films as you may recall include Fury (2014) & Inglorious Basterds (2009). As a bonus, the director of Allied is Robert Zemeckis who has been well known for many awesome films such as Back To The Future I, II, III, Cast Away, Romancing The Stone and so on. My first thoughts were that this was a film with some serious talent all around.

But! If you’re expecting an action film from Allied, you’re going to be disappointed. Allied is simply a love story with a small touch of thriller and a script that tells its story at a snail’s pace. The film is really broken into two parts. Part 1 is our main characters falling in love and then part 2 is seeing Max (Brad Pitt) questioning if his wife is real or an impostor.

I was overall shocked how long this film took till a real plot developed.

As far as acting goes, Brad Pitt has disappointed me here and it’s very rare to see. At times (more so in the 1st half of the film) Brad Pitt looks fake the point where I questioned if perhaps CGI effects might have been used to make him look younger. Also, throughout the film’s duration Brad Pitt feels like a brick wall and expresses very little emotion. Even during what should be the most suspenseful moment for our lead character, he gives us very little depth. At times it almost felt like the actor was thinking about other things in the world- like what he would have to buy at Woolworths after a day of filming on the set. He appears to be distracted and it shows. I would also make the call to say at times our leading lady (Marion Cotilard) had outdone Brad Pitt in this film.

While the story here is a great idea and would have been interesting to see, the result is far too slow-paced and becomes a film that is longer than it needed to be. The other frustration is watching characters make poor choices that could (and does) cost the lives of others, as well as not be something that people would do in such a position. Instead of waiting for the answers, our characters choose to do their own thing and it’s painful to watch, meaning viewers become uninterested and no longer become invested in the story.

Allied surprised me, but not in the positive way that I hoped for with such an amazing cast and director. With a slow-paced story and characters that make unwise choices, the film will leave you feeling rather average as its end results equals nothing new or fresh and misses the creative marks for me. I personally feel the film could have been more suspenseful and dramatic. In the end, this is a dramatic love story that will leave you saying, yeah it was fine.

5.1/10

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Review Written by Peter Walkden