A technically proficient and visually lavish WWII spy thriller, Allied doesn’t quite reach its full potential due to the curious chemistry between stars Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard, who although bring individual strengths don’t gel as needed in a movie where relationship is the key to its high-stakes thrills.

There is quite a mix of talent to be found in Allied. Helmed by blockbuster director Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump), scripted by Oscar nominated scribe of gritty dramas Steven Knight (Eastern Promises), and starring the aesthetically pleasing duo of Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard, Allied is a film where its results don’t quite live up to its assemblage. Allied could have been a great war set romance, the kind once made during Hollywood’s golden era from which Casablanca and From Here to Eternity was released. Yet while it is by no means on the bottom level of a Pearl Harbour, the consistent weak spots in Allied stops it from being the modern-day classic it so pines to be.

The film begins in 1942. Canadian Air Force intelligence officer Max Vatan (Brad Pitt) travels to Casablanca to meet French resistance fighter Marianne Beausejour (Marion Cotillard), as they begin their façade as a married couple to cover their dangerous espionage mission. Of course, their romantic front turns into something much more intimate, leading to a marriage, child and homestead in London. Yet when the news that Marianne might be a German spy is broken to Max, his loyalties to his country and to his family are tested with the highest of stakes on the line.

Knight has long been a screenwriter who has excelled writing about complicated men delving into complicated situations. Sometimes it works when the likes of Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises) or Tom Hardy (Locke) are the actors involved. Sometimes it’s Brad Pitt. To be sure, Pitt is a fine actor. But his performance in Allied is a watching-the-gears-turn curiosity, that although conjures some genuinely raw and compelling moments of brilliance, if often undercut by more moments of over thinking his role. Cotillard fairs much better, convincing in her portrayal of an undercover agent with either foot in two different worlds, never giving away just what is genuine and what is a fabricated reality.

The interplay between Pitt and Cotillard should be what makes or breaks Allied as a “great” film, and once can’t help but feel that Zemeckis focuses a little too much on the aesthetics in sacrifice of the emotional depth needed. Allied sure does looks a winner, with Zemeckis’ midas touch with VFX work at its best, while the stellar production and costume design is Academy Awards worthy in its presentation.

Yet unlike Zemeckis’ much more efficient blend of VFX and drama seen in his previous Flight, the mash just does not blend as well here. As a result, Allied is a good attempt at what could have been a great move.