Overlord

Overlord

Starring Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Mathilde Ollivier, Pilou Asbaek

Directed by Julius Avery

The Story:
On the eve of D-Day, a paratrooper squad is shot down over France, leaving a small group of American paratroopers alive - Pvt. Ed Boyce (Joban Adepo), Corporal Ford (Wyatt Russell), sniper Tibbet (John Magaro), and photographer Morton Chase (Iain De Caestecker).  They're tasked with taking down a Nazi radio tower in a church so they can communicate to the allied forces to attack.  After they enter the small French town nearby, they find aid from local townswoman Chloe (Mathilde Ollivier), whose aunt underwent some sort of Nazi surgery that left her gravely ill.  She keeps the soldiers in her home until SS Hauptsturmfuhrer Wafner (Pilou Asbaek) arrives, and the men take him hostage.

Boyce enters the church and finds that there's much more than just a radio tower, discovering an underground testing facility that seemingly makes monsters out of dead men, and he returns to the others with the information.  Using this, they decide to destroy the church from the inside, so as to prevent this Nazi weapon from reaching the world and changing the course of the war forever.

The Synopsis:
When "Overlord" was first announced, many people felt it was going to be a prequel film to the "Cloverfield" franchise, basically because it's a mixture of action and horror, and also produced by J.J. Abrams.  However, "Overlord" is its own entity, with a clear defining beginning, middle, and end, and doesn't tie into the "Cloverfield" world at all.  It would've been interesting if it had, but as it stands, it's still a top-notch blend of action and horror set in the backdrop of World War II, with more than enough blood and gore to satisfy the horror fan and action and excitement to appease the action fans.

There's been a lot of information that's been released in recent years regarding the Nazis and their hidden underground schemes to win the war, including human experimentation in hopes of creating some sort of super-soldier, and that's the basis for "Overlord."  When a group of U.S. paratroopers are shot down over enemy territory, they're tasked with taking down a Nazi radio tower, but discover something more deadly underground.  It's easy to make a film like this and make the characters your typical typecasts, but each character here is given more to work with than just their title, which works in a lot of cases but not so much in others.

The main role here goes to relative newcomer Jovan Adepo who plays Private Boyce, who serves as the character the audience should most relate to, but mostly I found him insufferable and annoying who has absolutely no right to be a soldier.  During basic training he couldn't even kill a mouse, and his naivety constantly threatens his fellow soldiers, as his bumbling buffoonery almost gets him killed multiple times as well.  He doesn't seem to want to kill anyone, and has several stupid moments throughout the film which are too numerous to count, but if you see it you'll know it.  Typically, this would turn me off to a film like this, but this is how Boyce is - he wants to do the right, good, honorable thing, even if it means getting killed for it.

On the other side, there's his commanding officer Ford, played by Wyatt Russell (the offspring of famous parents Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, who is the spitting image of his daddy).  At first he's the brooding, secretive man who seems typecast for this type of role, but as the film progresses we see different sides to this character that are refreshing and new for a film like this, and Russell performs it perfectly.

The other men in their group are equally memorable.  Tibbet the sniper is a wisecracking New Yorker who gains a tiny follower in the town whose interactions are the humorous parts of the film.  Photographer Chase is rather green when it comes to war, and focuses more on his camera than his gun.  Both John Magaro and Iain De Caestecker own their roles and make them more memorable than simply background characters.

Leading the femme fatale role, Mathilde Ollivier shines as Chloe, a French civilian who's been terrorized by the Nazis for awhile now, but hasn't had an opportunity to strike back until the paratroopers arrive.  Now strengthened, she turns into an action hero who has several moments where you can't help but cheer her on, especially when she finds a flame thrower.

When it comes to the bad guys, here's where the film gets a bit typical.  Nazis are bad, and there's nothing good about them - it's something we know, and something they play very well here in the form of the leader Wafner, played by Pilou Asbaek.  He's heartless to the core, and will stop at nothing to achieve the Fuhrer's goals, even at the cost of his own sanity.

The cinematography is also spellbinding, including opening and closing credits reminiscent of classic World War II films, and the small town set and church, where the experiments take place.  Yet it's the opening sequence of the paratroopers arriving in France that's an absolute knockout, as we feel we're in the airplane with them as they get shot down out of the sky, and see the world through Boyce's point of view as it seems that the entire world is ending around us.  It's dizzying and nauseating in a good way, an excellent way to kick off a film of this caliber.

The action hardly lets up throughout, and when the horror aspect gets mixed in, it's simply the icing on the cake.  Sure, the experiments are reminiscent of creating zombies in the traditional sense, but these monsters are much more than just the shambling undead - they run at full speed, are absolutely terrifying, and seems like nothing - not even a bullet to the head - can stop them.  This added a whole new twist to the film, as it becomes more than just a simple us-versus-them mentality, but rather one where it seems that the Nazis really did create the super-soldier they were looking for - except they can't be so easily controlled.

Mixed in with everything is a stellar soundtrack that ebbs and swells at the perfect time, adding to the chaotic sense the film delivers, only heightening our excitement and fear.  When it comes to the effects, they do use some CGI effects, but more often than not rely on the good ole classic prosthetics and natural effects to showcase the terror, much like Wyatt Russell's father's classic film "The Thing."  It's a beautiful thing to see a film use practical effects instead of relying on CGI, and it's absolutely impressive and totally terrifying.

The Summary:
Blending action, horror, and revisionist history, "Overlord" serves as a perfect combination of all these elements, delivering an unforgettable thrill-ride from start to finish and giving us some great performances from a relatively unknown cast.

The Score: A+