Allied

Robert Zemeckis’s past two films The Walk and Flight both fell massively short of the mark, with more gloss than quality storytelling. Now he’s taking on a classic genre, the wartime epic romance, and putting his own spin on it with Allied.

It’s the height of World War II and Royal Canadian Air Force officer Max Vatan (Brad Pitt) is travelling to Casablanca in French Morocco as part of a planned assassination of the German ambassador. His partner is French Resistance fighter Marianne Beausejour (Marion Cotillard). The two are to pose as a married couple for cover as they prepare for the mission, however they grow a little too close and after completing the assassination they move back to London to start a life together. A year after their marriage, Max finds out from the Special Operations Executive that Marianne may be a suspected German spy and that he is to help determine if she can be trusted. If she is found to be an enemy agent, Max must execute her by his own hand.

With what might be most closely described as the first act of Allied, we see the two meet in France and swiftly plan their pseudo-marriage and the assassination. This should initiate a spark of character development that draws us into this sweeping romantic war film - the sort of film we haven’t seen in a very long time - but what we get are stale cardboard cut-out roles that only really prepare us for a decidedly tepid film overall.

Before we know it, Max and Marianne have settled down in London and already have a baby girl. We’ve skipped a whole crucial stage of empathy-building and by the time the rumours of Marianne’s allegiance make it to Max, we couldn’t really care less about the end result because we’re not invested in their relationship. Despite all the tabloid hearsay that plagued this film’s production, there’s just no chemistry between Pitt and Cotillard.

The film continues along at a sluggish pace, and makes sure you’re aware that it sees itself as a sort of new-age Casablanca, dangling comparisons around blatantly. The same overly-syrupy filmmaking that we saw in Flight is also present here, with sweeping tracking shots and sentimental strings at every corner. There’s a lack of emotional contour to the film because of this and it all blends into one.

That being said there are some great set-pieces in Allied, particularly the scene when a German plane is shot down during the Blitz and starts to spin out of control down towards their house. As always Zemeckis uses effective and nuanced CGI to blend digital elements in the background, and overall the film looks great, if overly smooth and saccharine.

Despite these few-and-far-between moments, Allied is unfortunately not a return to form for Zemeckis. Although all his sappy directorial decisions are not as adverse to the overall film as the total lack of allure between Pitt and Cotillard and the stagnated characters that they inhabit.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is one of those popular 60s spy TV shows that is finally getting a film adaptation, although twenty years after it's most associated show, Mission: Impossible. And like that other series, UNCLE has taken a different turn from it's source material, but this time into the world of comedy. A job that lands in expert hands with director Guy Ritchie.

Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) is top spy with the CIA. He is given a routine task of retrieving Gabby Teller (Alicia Vikander) from East Berlin so that the CIA can ascertain information about her former Nazi father who has gone missing with the knowledge of new atomic technology. Hot on his heels however, is Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer), the KGB's top killing machine. The day after Solo completes his mission, both he and Kuryakin find out that their respective governments have teamed them up to go after a terrorist organisation headed up by Victoria Vinciguerra (Elizabeth Debicki), who plans to use Teller's technological knowledge to build her own nuclear weapon.

Ritchie definitely returns to his roots here. While the film is still an action movie, comedy reins supreme with plenty of laughs, not unlike those you would find in Snatch. But his action movie experience from Sherlock Holmes is definitely a bonus, as the film uses slick stunt driving and excellent fight scenes, that are still laced with comedic moments. My only quibble with these action sequences is that there are certain number of stylised CGI transitions used, especially in the driving scenes that took me out of it slightly.

Henry Cavill is at his most charming and suits this charismatic role perfectly. Napoleon Solo is part spy and part conman (same thing really) and that is a big bonus for his character. Armie Hammer looks like he's having fun playing a more serious character after his romp in The Lone Ranger. It is also refreshing to see Alicia Vikander in a lighter movie after watching her do so many dramatic roles. Hugh Grant has a really fun supporting role.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is a much lighter movie than what I had expected, but nevertheless a very good and enjoyable adventure with two fantastic leads. The cool 60s setting didn't hurt the film at all.