What’s not to love about Overlord, the J.J. Abrams produced, World War II set, Nazi and zombie gore fest? Seriously, the horror/war flick with a twist is an absolute blast. It firmly knows what it is and what it’s doing. Audiences, buckle up, be prepared for a wild ride—right from the bullet-flying, airplane-exploding D-Day invasion opening scene.
Director Julius Avery tells us what’s what within those first moments. All the exposition one needs is accomplished as quickly as that anti-aircraft fire comes at the Allied forces. The camera centers on our lead, the charismatic Boyce (Jovan Adepo). Among a plane-load full of GIs, it also showcases the guy brought in from another company for this highly specialized mission (Wyatt Russell’s Ford), John Magaro’s Tibbet, Iain De Caestecker’s Chase and Dominic Applewhite’s Rosenfeld.
All hell breaks loose as their aircraft is hit and whoever can, leaps out and opens their chute. We stay with Boyce as he goes right into the water. It’s a thrilling sequence and one of the more explosive movie openings in some time.
Boyce connects with what’s left of his unit (i.e. the guys mentioned above). Their mission, upon landing in France, is to make their way to a small village and take out a tower that the Nazis are using as a communication hub… so that the Allied air invasion can have a shot at success. Of course, the reality of what they encounter is a far cry from simple German forces desperate to prevent their march towards Berlin. This tower just happens to be a site where German scientists are experimenting with human subjects. The results are, as the Overlord trailer teases, “1,000-year-soldiers for a 1,000-year war.”
Yup, basically, they’re zombies!
There is something about a group that is collectively easily the best villain a film could possess—Nazis—paired with the monster movie world’s most hard to kill force—zombies—that is not only the stuff of dreams for horror fans, but cinema fans should be thrilled with this truly outside-the-box plot.
You want originality from Hollywood? Overlord gives it to its audience in spades.
Soon after that harrowing landing in France, they run into a local whose help is priceless. Not only does Chloe (Mathilde Ollivier) know the way to the tower, but she’s quite handy with a flame-thrower—wait, I’m getting ahead of myself!
Not only are our boys overmatched, but when Boyce winds up inside the tower building—for what winds up being a recon mission—he discovers something that frighteningly goes against the laws of nature. There’s a serum that Nazis are testing. From those first altered souls that are introduced, Nazi soldiers 2.0 are one truly terrifying creature.
Avery’s command of the genres necessary to pull off this what could be perceived as risky cinematic endeavor, is stellar. Never does the film try to be more than what it is and what it is is so wildly inventive. There is so much joy in simply letting yourself go with this beautifully bumpy, crazily chilling and gorgeously gory journey through a World War II battle we never knew we needed. After leaving the theater, do not be surprised if thoughts permeate the mind including uttering the phrase “that was awesome” repeatedly. It is as if a zombie-riffic horror flick met an epic World War II thriller and gave birth to an off-the-chains celebration of the classic the cards are stacked way high against our heroes cinematic milieu.
The cast firmly knows their place, and each is a perfect spoke in this electric ensemble wheel. Adepo seems like the most unlikely of heroes at the outset, but the man who went toe-to-toe with Denzel Washington in Fences sure channels his talents to their fullest in a role that had to be the supremist of challenges to tackle. Russell continues to shine (after turns in a wide array of pictures, from 22 Jump Street to Everybody Wants Some!! and TV’s surprise hit Lodge 49). His war-weary soldier is forced into a commander role that no one could have been trained for—last time I checked zombies were not part of boot camp. The actor rises to the occasion and delivers a turn that aides Avery’s uncanny ability to grab his audience by the lapels and never let go until the credits commence.
Ollivier simultaneously embodies the French resistance’s fighting spirit with an innate maternalistic desire to take care of her ailing mother and incredibly younger brother who is already scarred by the horrors of war. She is no wallflower in Avery’s world. Chloe is every bit the storied fighting machine as her new American soldier brothers-in-arms.
Magaro’s role is to be tough when called upon, but also to deliver some much-needed chuckles and laughs at just the right moments, i.e. when a breather is needed from the frenetically-paced suspense. It’s fascinating. On one hand, you might feel as if you’ve seen this character before in World War II films. You know the one… the Italian-American accent, coupled with the commanding situational humor Yet, in the hands of Magaro, his characterization is decidedly different and, fittingly, as unique as Overlord itself.
Grade: B+