Overlord

Overlord is a film that you'd almost be willing to place money on in terms of it being successful. 

It's got J.J. Abrams' name attached to it as a producer, World War II action, and Nazi Zombies. The combination would lead one to believe there would be a ton of mystery and potentially even a Cloverfield connection (hint: there's not). 

What it lacks in star power (though some of that might have helped put more butts in seats), it achieves in concept and potential for its concept. 

Unfortunately, Overlord was the subject of some early awful trailers that not only made it look dumber than it actually is, but completely undersold the tone of the whole film with "Hell's Bells" blasting as the background song. 

The final film is nothing like that trailer -- in which I imagine teenagers who just finished their Mountain Dew and a game of Call of Duty heading to theater. Perhaps more interesting about Overlord is that the biggest selling features of the whole film: J.J. Abrams and what we can assume would be some mystery, and "zombies" (or something very close) are actually the weakest parts of a surprisingly good movie.

Overlord starts really strong and I was engrossed within the first several minutes of a paratroop unit and their mission to drop into enemy territory. The tension in these early scenes is worth praising and by the time our main character, Boyce, lands on the ground I was impressed. This could be a movie that ends up far better than I thought! As the film moves forward, it keeps up the momentum up until the point it turns somewhat cliche and predictable. The film never reaches a point where it's bad or what you may have expected from the trailers, but it becomes increasingly more forgettable as it goes on. 

Umm...there's no one behind you.

What Overlord does well though, it remains consistent at. At its heart are some worthwhile characters and performances. Jovan Adepo is our lead and does well to balance the line between timid soldier and someone who needs to survive. The rest of the cast is good too -- no one is an outrageous standout -- but the writing helps everyone to feel like a small, hodgepodge family. For our heroes, we're invested and want to see them succeed. Unfortunately for our villains, they're largely forgettable and written as generic Nazis. We only ever get to "know" one of them and he's basically a copy+paste general who doesn't have much special about him. More unfortunate about our villains (or the premise in general) is that the film avoids ever explaining what's actually happening in these "labs". Sure, the simple explanation of zombies is enough, but I felt as if there was a missed opportunity to really double down on some heavy, interesting lore. J.J. Abrams is a master of building mystery and there's next to none of it here by the time we get slightly past the halfway point. Granted, he's not at the helm here, but it felt like a bit of a missed opportunity regardless both in the initial marketing and the actual film. 

These two crazy kids have been playing too much Call of Duty!

I was surprised that Overlord is a really entertaining war movie. I've already mentioned the intense opening sequence, but most of the other "normal" battles are well captured, brutal, and even inventive in certain areas. A lot of this is due to some great editing and cinematography which was something I was not expecting going in. It won't win any awards here, but it's talented enough to be effective and there's even a couple long-take shots that are a blast to watch. Guns and bullets are loud and the film is violent and very, very gory. The gore isn't just reserved for the zombie violence with the war violence having some truly grisly moments too. Interestingly enough, my friends and I found the normal war action to be superior to the film's value-add element of zombies. The zombie violence is mostly hyper-focused on gore and near-superhero antics of punching people across the room, etc. It's not bad, but still strange these parts of the movie are its most forgettable. 

He's going to need some Neosporin for that wound!

Overlord defied my expectations in most ways. That in and of itself wasn't too hard with some off-putting and off-tone trailers, but it deserves points for ample character building, being technically impressive, and having some great war violence. The zombie stuff may be lacking and I still think the missed opportunity for a larger mystery was a bummer, but I cannot deny it was a [mostly] successful blend of war, horror, and action genres. 

CONS

• The zombie elements are the film's weakest parts, especially by the end
• Seems like a ripe opportunity to build a much more woven mystery than what was presented
• Feels too long by about 10 mins
• Forgettable and one note villains
• Awful marketing and trailers

PROS

• Fun group of heroes to tag along with. You grow to like them
• Well done and very intense intro gets you engrossed in the film right away
• Some awesome wartime action that is appropriately brutal
• Well filmed and edited. Kudos for a couple great tracking shots
• Solid sound support all around. Original score has its moments and the action is loud
• Gory, as is usually the case with zombies, but there are a few parts here that will make you squeam
• Fun, unique blend of a few genres

Rath's Review Score | 7.5/10