Review of Allied

Allied (2016)
8/10
Better than I Expected
27 November 2016
You may have seen the preview for this movie; I would say that that does not fully prepare you for the actual movie. It is a movie that will appeal to adults, both men and women, and it includes romance, sacrifice, and plenty of action and spy hi jinks.

A very good script, with some great plot turns, and superior acting from both Marion Cotillard and Brad Pitt in complex, challenging roles. My favorite bit: when they make love in a car in the Moroccan desert with a sandstorm going on all around them. It is a good metaphor for their love story in the midst of the great chaos of World War II. And it has a realistic feel, for the most part--for the sets in Casablanca (some good homage to the Bogart film, I would say also some Brando homage in parts of Pitt's performance), and the time back in the UK (second favorite bit is during a party in London). One does get the sense of the all-out effort demanded to win the war, something we do well to commemorate in these days when the last veterans of that most epic event in history are at death's door.

It is a Zemeckis film, from the school of film-making of Steven Spielberg, and that means your emotions are subject to the whim and whimsy of the director's manipulation. Sometimes you are aware of that, but oftentimes you are not, and that makes it better (than, say, Forrest Gump).

I will take the movie as a whole and suggest Oscar nominations for original screenplay and both leading roles.
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