Allied

Allied is billed as a sexy action thriller but is unfortunately deficient on all counts. The chemistry between Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard is surprisingly unconvincing for two distinguished actors of such picturesque appearance; the action scenes are largely uninspired and ill-conceived; and the script is almost entirely devoid of compellingly concealed narrative turns. The resultant film is a tepid exercise in pandering, attempting to deliver the fabled four-quadrant film while failing to adequately serve any specific corner of that matrix. It’s too mature for young audiences, too sexless for mature ones and inadequate in characterization for both its male and female leads. Allied supplies further justification for my argument — most recently voiced regarding last year’s The Walk — that director Robert Zemeckis’ best days are behind him.

The story follows a World War II Canadian intelligence officer (Pitt) dropped behind enemy lines alongside a French Resistance fighter (Cotillard) to pose as a Nazi sympathizer in the hope of assassinating a German diplomat. Following their mission, the two relocate to London and start a family just in time for Cotillard’s true allegiances to be called into question. Allied attempts to recreate the wartime amorosity of early Hitchcock in the vein of The 39 Steps but lacks the warmhearted spirit of such films. It tries to evoke the sense of paranoia and uncertainty of films like Carol Reed’s The Third Man, but Zemeckis and screenwriter Steven Knight, in the course of trying to incorporate their influences, seem to lose focus and fail to focus on building tension.

To be clear, I wanted to love this film. As a traditionalist at heart, there are few filmgoing prospects more promising to me than the idea of a major studio picture reviving the Classical Hollywood style of yesteryear. So it’s to my great consternation that Allied fails to deliver on that promise, at least for the most part. The trappings of old-fashioned filmmaking are present, including improbably good-looking people facing tremendous physical and emotional stakes as they confront problems much larger than themselves. The film falls short of its mark, however, due to the absence of the technical proficiency that characterized the progenitors of that style. The prodigious output of the studio system that produced the classic movies, despite its myriad flaws, engendered filmmakers with a craftsman-like precision, an efficiency born of tight shooting schedules and relentless production slates.

Zemeckis does everything in his power to imitate these films of yore, but his technique and aesthetic are too firmly rooted in modern filmmaking sensibilities to grasp what made those earlier films so great. Casablanca is not a cinematic high-water mark strictly because of its cast or script or production values but because of the confluence of factors that worked in concert to produce something greater than the sum of its parts. Trying to shoot the desert to look like a CG-augmented Lawrence of Arabia does not necessarily produce a film of that caliber. As a director, Zemeckis’ reach exceeds his grasp, but his aspirations are laudable.

Cotillard does her best with an unforgiving role, but her efforts are undermined by a predictable script that banks on the suggestion of suspense rather than suspense itself. If Cotillard’s character is underserved, Pitt’s fares little better, as the emotional range he’s called upon to traverse is highly polarized and lacking in nuance. The narrative’s success is dependent on the chemistry between these two leads, which is lacking at best. In the absence of a better script, this shortcoming becomes glaring.

There’s an undeniable charm to the idea behind Allied, but the film’s merits unfortunately don’t bear out its potential. Zemeckis stays firmly in his directorial wheelhouse, delivering highly polished, ostensibly crowd-pleasing fare with little attention to story or character as long as the requisite story beats are hit. It’s distinctly possible that I’m being too harsh on Allied, as it’s far from a bad film and mostly does what it was designed to do. That being said, the whole enterprise falls far too flat to garner my unreserved recommendation. Rated R for violence, some sexuality/nudity, language and brief drug use.

Now Playing at Carmike 10, Carolina Cinemark, Regal Biltmore Grande, Epic of Hendersonville.