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Overlord

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Jovan Adepo in the movie Overlord. (Paramount Pictures/Peter Mountain)
Jovan Adepo in the movie Overlord. (Paramount Pictures/Peter Mountain)

WHAT IT'S ABOUT:

The year is 1944. World War 2 is reaching a crescendo as the United States prepares for D-Day. American paratroopers are here to save the day by being dropped behind enemy lines to carry out a mission that is vital to ensuring the success of the invasion. Approaching their target in a Nazi-occupied village, the paratroopers soon realise that this is no ordinary military operation as their fight to save the living becomes a fight against the undead.       

WHAT WE THOUGHT:

Warfare, Nazis and fringe science meet in this action-packed war film come gory zombie thriller produced by J.J Abrams.   

The movie immediately steals your attention and takes you into its world with a pulse-pounding opening sequence that leaves one with a seemingly keen awareness of the ugliness of warfare. War is hell, war is ugly and somehow Overlord manages to make it uglier - literally. The special effects in this movie are amazing if you’re looking to be disgusted and shocked. 

Essentially, this is Inglorious Bastards meets Universal Soldier meets Wrong Turn - with Nazis - and that’s a great thing. 

Overlord is excellent in that its tempo builds continuously and the action hardly ever dies down enough for viewers to relax or lose focus. While it most certainly is a horror movie, it is particularly noteworthy for its action sequences that will have you ducking bullets and shrapnel from the comfort of your seat.

Much more than being an action and horror mystery movie, Overlord is special in that it seamlessly transitions from an action movie into a horror movie. You start watching the movie to see how the main character, Boyce (played by Jovan Adepo) is going to survive a hail of bullets and end wondering how he is going to avoid getting his face chewed off. 

The characters are, however, slightly prosaic to the fan of the war movie. This is not necessarily a negative but one always hopes that this will be the war movie that doesn't resort to the usual war-movie character tropes. 

Our protagonist Boyce is the generic good guy. The kind of guy who couldn’t kill a mouse even if he were ordered to by his commanding officer. He’s a nervous wreck, the type of soldier that somehow never dies in war movies. His opposite is the lone sigma, morally ambiguous Corporal Ford (played by Wyatt Russell) who is ‘just a soldier following orders’, the type who goes it alone and operates outside of the pack. This guy is tough as nails and he has the scars to prove it. 

The comedic relief is brought to you by the wise-cracking, snarky East Coast guy who wants to stay alive and doesn’t care who he pisses off to ensure that he does. We all know this character, he keeps you laughing despite the dead bodies and brain fragments but why does he always have to have a Brooklyn/Bostonian accent. Why can’t the funny guy be from Ohio or Michigan or something?  

The last two characters are the naive rookie with a heart of gold and the mysterious female with a secret that you just know is somehow going to get the group in trouble. We’ve seen them all before, but even so, Overlord still manages to pull it all together and surprise you in what should really have been a very predictable movie. 

If you’re a purist looking for a straightforward horror movie, perhaps consider Halloween. If, however, you’re looking for the best in action with a healthy dose of mystery and horror - look no further than Overlord.   


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