David Dishman | CNHI Oklahoma Dec 2, 2016
McALESTER, Okla. — “Allied” blends romance, action and a thrilling plot to produce one of the year’s better films.
The spy thriller starring Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard has its share of action and deceptive adventure — but it’s a romanticized and overly decorative film that softens the excitement. This will translate to a fantastic blend of action and romance for some, but it will leave others wanting for a harder-hitting film.
I found the combination a successful one — for the most part. If you like your movies to resemble a Pottery Barn catalog, “Allied” is going to be a real treat. There are metal cigarrette cases; dapper leather jackets, and shoes and briefcases; Panama hats; Casablanca rooftops; WWII prop planes; old-timey sunglasses and more. There is more than enough to convince an audience member WWII was just a beautiful time where styles were better, smoking wasn’t so bad and spies were capable of love. It’s enough to make a hipster salivate.
The action is enough to get the heart beating at an accelerated rate from time-to-time. Pitt and Cotillard play Max Vatan and Marianne Beauséjour respectively, both of whom are spies during WWII. The pair meet in Casablanca during the opening scenes of the film after being assigned to the same mission. Both are trained assassins, excellent liars and they fight their way into, and out of, several tight spots throughout the film. Vatan, a Canadian, and Beauséjour, from France, fall in love while on assignment and decide to get married and move to London mid-war.
It’s at this point things can get to the groan-inducing points in the film where the love story is frustratingly juxtaposed with the action. The loving couple get pregnant and Beauséjour delivers their baby on the streets of London amid a German air raid which blows up the hospital they were carted from moments before. The loving embrace between the couple while they hold their newborn and buildings explode in the background is too much.
But those scenes are limited and the film is saved by the plot.
Sometime after moving to London and getting married, Vatan is informed his wife is suspected of being a double-agent and is actually a German spy. For a man who fell in love with a woman, had a child with this woman, and continues to fight to liberate this woman’s home country of France from the Germans she is suspected of working for — Vatan is understandably upset. The film centers around this conflict and the audience is left guessing along with Vatan about the true nature of Beauséjour’s allegiance. Who does she work for? What is true, if anything, about who she is? Is it entirely a mistake, and is she who she says she is? Does she really love Vatan? Can Vatan really love Beauséjour?
It’s more complicated than Christmas shopping for your in-laws.
The confusion and mystery surrounding Beauséjour elevates the film to an entertaining level. It moves from a romantic, WWII-era action film to a genuine thriller. Audience members are left in the dark and forced to piece together the mystery as Vatan works to uncover the truth himself. The romance proves to be a necessary part to the film because it leaves a viewer feeling betrayed and angry when Beauséjour is accused of being a spy, much like Vatan. But wait, should we feel betrayed? Or are we going to get to the bottom of a big misunderstanding? The back-and-forth between these possibilities is riveting.
“Allied” is capped with a must-see ending. If you’ve seen as many movies as I have, you sometimes start to think you’ve seen it all in these sorts of situations. However, “Allied” wraps up in spectacular fashion. There will be no spoilers included here so I suggest you go and see for yourself.
War might not be a romantic adventure like “Allied” depicts, but for entertainment during a December 2016 weekend, you won’t find much better.
not mine.credit and source: ENIDNEWS
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