The only thing worse than Hitler and a bunch of Nazis. Would be killing those said Nazis only to have them become zombies. Overlord was a ton of fun.
A small group of American soldiers find horror behind enemy lines on the eve of D-Day.
This guy would give Two-Face a run for his money. Overlord is your classic B-Movie fun, with some actual A-Movie material. No one and I mean no one will tell you that during World War II people were having a good time. What history doesn’t want you to know is that the Germans were actually experimenting and trying to create the perfect soldier in the form of well a zombie. Okay, that part isn’t true, but this movie is a part zombie thriller, part revisionist war-drama and an all around gore slugfest. Sometimes you need to just check your brain off and enjoy an entertaining zombie war movie. But the thing is, as the movie progressed I started to like it more and more, and when it was finished I was kind of wanting more.
So when the film begins it wastes no time thrusting you into this world. We start on the eve of D-Day where Boyce (Jovan Adepo) and his fellow platoon are paratroopers who are about to be sent in to destroy a German radio tower. The US cannot advance any further until that radio tower has been destroyed, so when the plane is shot down and only a handful of soldiers survive, the task now seems next to impossible to pull off. The opening sequence of Overload was so impressive. It’s one of my favorite sequences of the entire year, and for such a small movie, director Julius Avery did a remarkable job. Surviving alongside Boyce is Corporal Ford (Wyatt Russell), Chase (Iain De Caestecker) and Tibbet (John Magaro). Now one of the reasons I felt this movie worked so well was because I liked the cast. There are only a few people in this movie, so you really go on a journey with them, so if you dislike them, or they were poorly cast, I think it takes away from the experience. But they all have their quirks and traits, and I just thought they all worked really well. Along the way, they meet a young women Chole (Mathilde Ollivier) who helps them in their fight against the Germans. Now you can’t have a movie about killing Nazis without one badass one now, can you? That honor bestows upon Wafner (Pilou Asbaek) who people might recognize as Euron Greyjoy in that little tiny show called Game of Thrones. He’s the boss man in a little tiny village where Chole is keeping the US soldiers safe, but when Boyce stumbles upon a secret military lab and discovers that, well they be cooking up zombies, he needs to inform Corporal Ford. When he finds some sort of serum he takes it with him, not before reuniting with his pal Rosenfeld (Dominic Applewhite) who is hooked up to some sort of machine waiting to be experimented on. Also the entire time I could have sworn Dominic Applewhite was Timothy Chalmet, it’s uncanny how much they look alike. After a successful rescue, they head back to the village where well you guessed it, all hell breaks loose. One of the soldiers gets infected with the serum, Chole’s little brother gets kidnapped and now time is running out. Everyone’s arc is flushed out nicely, each getting their “moment” to shine, but Wyatt Russell and Adepo are the standouts. Obviously having Kurt Russell has your father is going to help you, but I’ve liked him ever since 22 Jump Street. If I had it my way, I would want Wyatt Russell to play Green Arrow in the DCEU.
Again being a smaller movie, I didn’t expect crazy over the top action set pieces, especially after the opening moments of the film. But the one thing that keeps you going is the intrigue to what is actually going on, and the banter and the back and forth between our heroes. That is what works so well in Overlord, and one of the reasons I think it is critically successful. But that being said, when the action does it, it hits hard. The ending is quite enjoyable, and it really keeps you on your toes. Yes, this is a B-Movie so things are going to cheesy, but it’s done in such a fantastic way, that I found myself not giving a crap. I was entertained the entire runtime of Overlord, and in certain moments I was thinking this movie is pretty damn cool. All the silliness and campiness that goes on is to be expected, but since there are such few characters and you really get invested into all of them, it’s easy to overlook that stuff.
If you like zombies, and you hate Nazis then this movie will be right up your alley, and it’s a boatload of fun.
Check ya later.
Nate’s Movie Tour Reviews – Overlord = 75/100
