Allied

Neither great nor terrible. As usual, the enemies run straight into the fire of the heroes, who are then able to leave the scene without any consequences. Then the film morphed into some sort of a romantic drama with war used only as a backdrop to the story. The situation was saved by the ending. A happy one would have clearly been unfortunate in this case. (2017-04-09)

A film with Zemeckis’s perfect craftsmanship, powerfully emotional, atmospheric, with wonderful performances by Pitt and Cotillard, the nonchalant score by Silvestri, and sensitively photographed by Burgess, right on the scale of a soberly edited retro trip. A precisely balanced blend of romantic drama and dark historical backdrop that creates an immensely immersive aura and gradually builds under the cauldron to a chilling, crushingly unyielding finale. A small great cinematic event that will sadly fade quickly into obscurity, but it’s nonetheless a wonderful and valuable revelation in contemporary Hollywood conventions. 90% (2017-02-16)

The triple combo of Robert Zemeckis, Brad Pitt and Nazis simply can't go wrong. Allied portrays the view of World War II from a different angle, which is always interesting. While the film is primarily a romantic drama, the chemistry between Pitt and the lovely Marion Cotillard works well here, the atmosphere is sombre and properly retro. There are only two action scenes, but they've got oomph, they're hard-hitting, and the party scene is one of the film's highlights. I'm a little disappointed that the film doesn't build up too much, the pace is rather slower, but I didn't get bored and that counts. The ending is properly shocking, which also rounds it up to four stars. Pluses: Excellent direction, excellent acting, retro atmosphere, R-rated. Minuses: longer running time, little action.70% (2016-12-01)

If it weren’t for the botoxed Brad Pitt and several scenes that reeked of Hollywood, where for instance a couple makes love in the midst of a sandstorm in Morroco and Marion Cotillard then gives birth during an air raid of London, I would be literally excited about the movie. I haven’t seen such great war atmosphere for a long time, which actually is no wonder. Robert Zemeckis is a great director and he’s truly great at creating high-quality atmospheres. The ending of the movie was also literally aced, but I guess Angelina Jolie probably wouldn’t share my excitement… (2017-03-10)

Allied is definitely a simplification of history, but in a nice retro-Hollywood guise that makes us turn a blind eye to that fact. It is surprisingly not tacky, dramatic bordering on chilling due to the atmosphere of the period in which the story takes place. It is also perfectly directed with cool professionalism and without the tear-jerking we might expect from Robert Zemeckis, and without any grand love motifs we might expect from Alan Silvestri. Because such a well-written script with such a powerful story doesn't need any of that. The ending totally got me. (2017-02-08)