an ALLIED musing

A few thoughts on ALLIED (I think I might make this a regular thing…): (tl;dr 8/10)

So, I kinda loved this movie. I absolutely love World War II-set films, so I pretty much buy in automatically. This was shot so beautifully (with great set decoration too), and I think this was the first time I really took note of how and why every scene was lit and shot. Brad Pitt was good but not great, could have been cast with a stronger actor, especially since I had trouble disconnecting him with his INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS role and imagining him say “Buongiorno” whenever he was dressed nicely. But my goodness I could never lose interest whenever Marion Cotillard was on screen; every line she delivered or look she gave was so electric and incredible. Their chemistry was off the charts (sorry Angie), and their relationship so wonderfully built in moments quiet and chaotic. The story was great, and Robert Zemeckis directs the action and creates tension so damn well I was having minor stress out fits in my seat. I think I would have loved this so much more if the last 10ish minutes or so didn’t feel so out of nowhere, and if a few extraneous scenes (which built up sorta phony tension that didn’t work as well) were cut out.

Those problems weren’t enough to make me not love Cotillard’s performance and the movie overall, though, and I definitely recommend seeing this film.