Love him or hate him, JJ Abrams has become one of the biggest names in Hollywood working today. Abrams first gained traction with his successful TV shows like Felicity, Alias, and especially with Lost. He gained further traction producing and directing films like Cloverfield, Super 8, Star Trek, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. While having a hand in some of the biggest franchises, he’s also helped give up-and-coming filmmakers a shot. In 2016, he produced 10 Cloverfield Lane, directed by Dan Trachtenberg after directing the short fan film Portal: No Escape. After that film’s success, Abrams brings us another up-and-coming director, this time Australian-born Julius Avery. Having first gotten attention from his short films, his first feature film was 2014’s Son of a Gun. The film was nominated for Best Film at the London Film Festival, which got Abrams’ attention. Now in 2018, Avery and Abrams bring us Overlord.
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It’s June 1944, the day before D-Day, and a paratrooper squad is being sent to destroy a German radio tower. Things immediately go south when their plane is shot down over enemy lines and only some of the paratroopers survive. The survivors include Private Boyce (Jovan Adepo), Corporal Ford (Wyatt Russell), Tibbet (John Magaro), and Chase (Iain De Caestecker). As the troops make their way through enemy lines, they stumble across a young French woman named Chloe (Mathilde Ollivier). She leads them to her village, where the radio tower is located, as well as something more sinister going on. After having to take SS Hauptsturmführer Wafner (Pilou Asbæk) hostage, the soldiers soon learn what the Nazis are up to. Turns out the Nazis have discovered a strange liquid under the village and are using it to perform experiments. Will the soldiers stop their plans, or will the Nazis succeed?
Going into this, I knew almost nothing about the movie other than the WWII setting and the action/horror tone. With that in mind, I think that is the best way to go into this. First thing I should note is that, despite what the trailers show, this isn’t exactly a Nazi zombie movie. In fact, the horror aspects of the film don’t really come into play until about halfway into the movie. That might disappoint some, but I actually like that they took the first half to develop and humanize the characters. Jovan Adepo is instantly relatable as a regular guy thrust into a dangerous situation trying to do the right thing. Wyatt Russell seems to be taking a page from his father Kurt Russell, since his performance almost echoes Snake Plissken. Pilou Asbæk also makes for a great villain, being very intense and intimidating all throughout.
The rest of the cast all get their moment to shine, with Mathilde Ollivier as Chloe being the biggest standout. The practical effects used here are pretty top-notch, especially in the design of the creatures and monsters seen later. Admittedly, there is some CGI that really sticks out amongst the practical effects, but it’s not as distracting as others. Once the action kicks in during the second half, it becomes a full on extravaganza of B-movie goodness. But like I said, because they took time out to develop the characters, you actually care about what’s happening. Sure, this probably won’t win any awards come Oscar season, but this is still an enjoyably fun movie. Granted, this is definitely not for everyone, but it’s great for those who enjoy B-movies that mix different genres. Overall, Overlord is bound to be one of the most underrated movies of 2018.
