'Allied' is lackluster and without suspense
'Allied' stars Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard, two secret operatives working during World War II who become romantically involved.
'Allied' stars Marion Cotillard (l.) and Brad Pitt (r.).
Daniel Smith/Paramount Pictures/AP
I would have thought that Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard would be聽capable of generating a lot more heat than the tiny sputtering flame聽occasionally visible in 鈥淎llied,鈥� a lackluster World War II espionage drama聽directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Steven Knight without聽producing the slightest tingle of suspense.聽
Pitt plays Max Vatan, a secret聽operative from Canada who works in the British special operations, where聽he is teamed in Morocco 鈥� Casablanca, no less! 鈥� with Marianne聽Beaus茅jour聽(Cotillard), an operative assigned to pose as his wife.
Inevitably, as the scene shifts to London, these two develop real feelings聽for each other 鈥� the fake lovebirds become real ones, complete with聽marriage and a baby daughter. But the war is still raging and Allied聽secrets are inexplicably being leaked to the Germans. Is Marianne the聽culprit? It鈥檚 a measure of the film鈥檚 dullness that the answer to that聽question is far from pressing. Grade:聽C (Rated R for violence, some sexuality/nudity, language and brief drug use.)