From the acclaimed and mysterious studio Bad Robot, and the great producer JJ Abrams, comes one of the year's coolest and most fun movies. Overlord follows a small military group tasked with taking down a Nazi radio tower, allowing the allies to provide air support on D-Day. While working to take out the tower they find out that there is more to it than meets the eye, including some Nazi experiments that may or may not be creating zombies. So yes, this movie has Nazi zombies, and yes, that is why I went to see it.
Where a lot of the appeal for this film comes from its over the top horror premise, it acts quite well as a war film. The studio titles are all in black and white, and the opening title card has the style of an old school wartime movie. This sets an old school tone that works really well. Along with the old school wartime tone, there is a very strong Call of Duty vibe, made clear through both the Nazi zombie element and the overall story and excitement it produces. Director Julius Avery knows exactly what kind of movie he is making, and uses that to his advantage, creating a most of the time fun, all the time exciting experience. The movie certainly could have been campier, and I'm still unsure if a campier tone would have made it more fun or made it too ridiculous, so I think Avery hits a good middle ground. As I said before, horror elements aside, this has some great war moments. After the opening title we are treated to a great scene aboard a plane where some of our main characters dish out some witty army banter, introducing the tone and character traits very early. That is followed by the plane flying into Nazi-occupied France, where beautifully shot warfare ensues. This film's opening would probably make every war film better. Once on the ground the main characters still have a fun camaraderie, which makes the film's less exciting moments still enjoyable. My biggest flaw in the film is that its attempts at deep character moments don't usually work. While the characters are fun to be around, and the actors all do a fairly good job, the big emotional moments usually fall flat. More character development would have helped this, but at the same time I think the film could just work better without those moments.
So acting wise there is nothing special, but I liked every central character quite a bit. One thing I found funny was how much these actors reminded me of some notable stars. The main character Boyce is played by Jovan Adepo. I really liked this character, as he had the biggest arc out of anyone in the film. Adepo's performance reminded me a lot of John Boyega in The Force Awakens, both due to their physical likeness and the fish out of water type of character they both played. Wyatt Russell, son of Kurt Russell, has one of his biggest roles to date in this film and killed it. This is exactly the kind of role Kurt Russell would do back in the day, and the toughness Wyatt Russell brings to the role was perfect. Mathilde Ollivier plays Chloe, a village girl that helps the team against the Nazis. This role reminded me a lot of Melanie Laurent in Inglorious Basterds, being a small town European girl whose life is turned upside down by the war, leading her to be pretty savage. Her performance was pretty solid, with some awesome moments throughout. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D's quirky scientist Iain De Caestecker plays a photographer in the film, and boy was he funny. The way characters interact with him wanting to photograph everything and the nervousness he has in serious moments was really entertaining. The other key players were John Magaro, as a stereotypical Italian-American, and Dominic Applewhite, who to me seemed like the love child of Buster Keaton and Timothee Chalamet. Much like the rest of the cast, both did solid work, nothing special but they suited the film well.
I really enjoyed this film. It's a tad over the top, but that brings an old-school feel to the film that is fun from start to finish. Steer clear if you don't handle gore well, because boy the film gets bloody, but if you're in for a fun and thrilling wartime horror flick, this is right up you alley.
Oh and one other gripe I have is the poster. It kinda sucks, and I think it would have been fun to have a wartime propaganda style poster instead.
Rating: 4.1/5
Written by Matt McKenzie
Where a lot of the appeal for this film comes from its over the top horror premise, it acts quite well as a war film. The studio titles are all in black and white, and the opening title card has the style of an old school wartime movie. This sets an old school tone that works really well. Along with the old school wartime tone, there is a very strong Call of Duty vibe, made clear through both the Nazi zombie element and the overall story and excitement it produces. Director Julius Avery knows exactly what kind of movie he is making, and uses that to his advantage, creating a most of the time fun, all the time exciting experience. The movie certainly could have been campier, and I'm still unsure if a campier tone would have made it more fun or made it too ridiculous, so I think Avery hits a good middle ground. As I said before, horror elements aside, this has some great war moments. After the opening title we are treated to a great scene aboard a plane where some of our main characters dish out some witty army banter, introducing the tone and character traits very early. That is followed by the plane flying into Nazi-occupied France, where beautifully shot warfare ensues. This film's opening would probably make every war film better. Once on the ground the main characters still have a fun camaraderie, which makes the film's less exciting moments still enjoyable. My biggest flaw in the film is that its attempts at deep character moments don't usually work. While the characters are fun to be around, and the actors all do a fairly good job, the big emotional moments usually fall flat. More character development would have helped this, but at the same time I think the film could just work better without those moments.
So acting wise there is nothing special, but I liked every central character quite a bit. One thing I found funny was how much these actors reminded me of some notable stars. The main character Boyce is played by Jovan Adepo. I really liked this character, as he had the biggest arc out of anyone in the film. Adepo's performance reminded me a lot of John Boyega in The Force Awakens, both due to their physical likeness and the fish out of water type of character they both played. Wyatt Russell, son of Kurt Russell, has one of his biggest roles to date in this film and killed it. This is exactly the kind of role Kurt Russell would do back in the day, and the toughness Wyatt Russell brings to the role was perfect. Mathilde Ollivier plays Chloe, a village girl that helps the team against the Nazis. This role reminded me a lot of Melanie Laurent in Inglorious Basterds, being a small town European girl whose life is turned upside down by the war, leading her to be pretty savage. Her performance was pretty solid, with some awesome moments throughout. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D's quirky scientist Iain De Caestecker plays a photographer in the film, and boy was he funny. The way characters interact with him wanting to photograph everything and the nervousness he has in serious moments was really entertaining. The other key players were John Magaro, as a stereotypical Italian-American, and Dominic Applewhite, who to me seemed like the love child of Buster Keaton and Timothee Chalamet. Much like the rest of the cast, both did solid work, nothing special but they suited the film well.
I really enjoyed this film. It's a tad over the top, but that brings an old-school feel to the film that is fun from start to finish. Steer clear if you don't handle gore well, because boy the film gets bloody, but if you're in for a fun and thrilling wartime horror flick, this is right up you alley.
Oh and one other gripe I have is the poster. It kinda sucks, and I think it would have been fun to have a wartime propaganda style poster instead.
Rating: 4.1/5
Written by Matt McKenzie
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