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Allied Movie Review: Brad Pitt and Marion Cottilard in an Engaging Robert Zemeckis Spy Romance

Posted on April 12, 2017 Written by Pinar Tarhan

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Allied starring Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard
Allied starring Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard. Image via IMP awards.

I liked the film, and this will be a positive review. So if you want to hate on it, you can do so in the comments or just ignore this.

Still with me? Awesome!

Allied is a 2016 feature drama, war, romance movie written by Steven Knight (Locke, Burnt, Eastern Promises) and directed by Robert Zemeckis. (Back to the Future, Flight, Forrest Gump). It stars Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard (Inception, The Dark Night Rises, A Good Year) in the lead roles and features Matthew Goode in a tiny but key part.

It’s important to mention that Allied is an old-fashioned film shot in an old-fashioned way. There is nothing unique or disruptive about it, and this is one of the main reasons I loved it so much.

Now, I love uniqueness and disruption where it is needed. Sometimes, you need to break the rules. Go outside of what is expected. But a sexy, traditional romance story with a bit of action starring your favorite actors directed by one of your favorite directors is sometimes exactly what you need to escape the complexities of your own world.

This is not to say the characters don’t have to go through hell. They do. They must, as any compelling story will have their characters suffer. But before the suffering, there is a tremendous reward, (in the form of a romance), a fun storyline and just beauty.

So here is the Allied Plot: (No spoilers; this is all in the trailer)

Max Vatan (Brad Pitt), a capable Canadian intelligence officer, meets the equally capable and attractive, French operative Marianne (Marion Cotillard) for an assignment that requires them to play a married couple.

It’s easy to fall in love during wartime: They are both intelligent, passionate, successful, and well, beautiful to a fault. By the time their assignment is over, they are a couple in love. They get married soon and have an adorable daughter.

However the biggest challenge for Max won’t be the war, but the accusation from his government that Marianne is a German spy. In 72 hours, her innocence or guilt will be proven. If she is guilty, Max will execute her himself. If he refuses, he will be hanged.

Can the woman he loves really be a spy? And if she is a spy, does it change the fact that he truly loves her?

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It’s a horrible situation to be in, and it provides us the suspense and action we need for the second half of the film as Max tries to prove her innocence by whatever means necessary, while the war is in full swing.

Throughout the film, our focus is on the passionate and loving relationship of our two protagonists. The war is in the background, however horrible it might be.

And Max is in the most horrendous situation of his life. Sure, he has lost friends. He has killed people, in both self-defense and doing his job. But the possibility of being betrayed by his wife, and the fact that he might have to kill her, almost breaks Max, and Brad Pitt does a good job making us feeling his pain.

Of course, when it comes to other things, the screenplay doesn’t bother. When you think about it, both Max and Marianne do horrible things. They had to kill a lot of people: to defend themselves, because it is their job, etc…One could argue wartime ethics and laws are different.

But Max also caused a lot of deaths, directly and indirectly, while he was trying to prove Marianne’s innocence. He didn’t blink an eye. He didn’t have time, was facing a life and death situation, his world was falling apart, etc. But his ability to compartmentalize was so scary and impressive at the same time.

Was there really little to no guilt? Did he have a superior coping mechanism? Or did he have sociopathic tendencies?

As I said, it wasn’t this movie’s goal or job to look into Max’s psychology outside of his feelings for his country/country’s allies or his wife. But if you want to dig deeper, there is a lot to think about.

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: allied, allied cast, allied movie, allied movie review, allied Robert zemeckis, Brad Pitt, drama, Marion Cotillard, Matthew Goode, robert zemeckis, romance, steven knight, war

The Hunting Party starring Richard Gere, Terrence Howard and Jesse Eisenberg

Posted on September 8, 2010 Written by ripitup

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The Hunting Party starring Richard Gere, Terrence Howard and Jesse Eisenberg
The Hunting Party starring Richard Gere, Terrence Howard and Jesse Eisenberg. Written and directed by Richard Shepard, 2007. Image via richardshepard.com

Simon Hunt (Richard Gere) is a very successful news reporter and makes the perfect team with his cameraman Duck (Terrence Howard). They are good friends and Duck is pretty OK with how fun and a little crazy Hunt is. They get into trouble but they are also the best.

However one instance changes this forever. Simon reaches his breaking point and has an outraged outburst, live. He gets fired and his career goes downhill. But Duck gets to be “safe” and becomes the cameraman for the anchorman. While this is trading up in many ways, Duck can’t help but miss his days with Hunt. In 2000, years after the Bosnian War ended, Duck is there with the anchor and a rookie named Benjamin (Jesse Eisenberg), freshly graduated from Harvard and who happens to be a son of the network’s vice president.

However the peaceful and harmless mission is disrupted when Hunt makes an appearance and offers a “job” for Duck. And it is not harmless at all: Simon thinks he can find the biggest criminal of that war: the  man responsible for countless killings and rapes- the man whose capturers will earn 5,000,000. Of course while this man is a criminal for Bosnia and the most of the world, he is a national hero for most Serbians and they are willing to protect this man no matter what.

As crazy as this is, Duck and Benjamin join Hunt, hoping that they will just make an interview with the man. However it becomes clear that Hunt is not only after financial relief but personal vengeance as well. Can they really get to this guy without getting killed? And how the hell are three reporters supposed to survive without any weapons at all?

The Hunting Party is partially based on a true story and it is a very intriguing adventure/drama/thriller about war, journalism and friendship. It has some comedic relief, and even though it is an easy film to watch, the events told are anything but.

This is a fun and thought-provoking movie, although it can drag a bit at times. Even though it is not as impressive Lord of War (sure, different topic but the subject matters are equally heavy), it is a solid film with fine performances. And just like Lord of War’s notes (telling us what eventually happens or will keep happening) at the end credits, The Hunting Party also ends on a note that makes you say “Holy Shit!”

The three leads are just fine and I don’t think there was any reason to cast Diane Kruger as she appears for as a couple of minutes. Written and directed by Richard Shepard. Based on an article by Scott Anderson.

Currently 7.0 on IMDB.

Other Posts on Jesse Eisenberg

Cursed starring Christina Ricci, Joshua Jackson & Jesse Eisenberg

The Social Network starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake and Armie Hammer

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: adventure, Diane Kruger, drama, jesse eiseberg, movies, Richard Gere, richard gere movies, richard shepard, Terrence Howard, terrence howard movies, the hunting party, the hunting party movie, thriller, war

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