Allied

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. (07/02/2017)

Brad Pitt is great, Marion Cotillard is excellent, and Robert Zemeckis knows how to film a scene that will be aesthetically intriguing at first glance. He chose an interesting story for his next film, but I just couldn't get into it, and this otherwise strong dramatic romance just didn't quite captivate me. (10/02/2017)

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% (16/02/2017)

Robert Zemeckis is considered a visionary, but at the core, he is and will always be old-fashioned. And that old-fashionedness is insidious, because Allied pretend to be a Moroccan war trifle for a while, later transforms through intense action interludes into an honest drama, and then doesn't recoil from flirting with a good amount of tension. Over time, additional layers of storytelling are added, and in the end, there remains a taste of a pleasantly genre-defying spectacle that makes one forget about the overly drawn-out pace of the first act. (26/01/2017)

Robert Zemeckis likes to dwell on the past, and all his famous films from the late 80s and early 90s are full of adventure, passion and joy that only the medium of cinema itself can convey. Romancing the Stone, Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Death Becomes Her... They always had a touch of the good old days. And Allied is indeed the good old days, referencing Casablanca, serving up action, espionage, romance, not even parodying the scenes with the Nazis, just nostalgically remembering the time we romantically idealize. (26/02/2022)