Overlord Is Exactly What You Want: Horror-Action And Beating On Nazis
It’s 1944. D-Day is only hours away. Allied soldiers are sent to stop a communication station built in a church by Nazis in France so that Allied forces can communicate with each other and make D-Day successful. Little did they know that the Nazis are not the only monsters hidden away in that church.
Watching the trailers, I was excited to see Overlord because it reminded me a lot of my love for the Wolfenstein video games, and I was not disappointed. But you will be disappointed if you are looking for historical accuracy in this movie. There are some items that any novice of World War II history will notice that the movie got wrong, but this is a movie about Nazi monsters in a church that looks like a haunted castle, so you may have to take the stick out of your butt if you want to enjoy this movie.
Some of the things that I liked about the movie include the main character being Haitian-American, which is a rarity in movies in general, let alone a war horror movie. Jovan Adepo (The Leftovers, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan) plays the lead, Boyce, and Kurt Russell’s equally pretty boy son Wyatt Russell plays the unfortunate Ford. There is also a fascinating theme that will be familiar to those who watched Saving Private Ryan, about how much mercy we should give to prisoners of war, especially if their ideology is heinous.
There is also a lot of great action in this movie, and a movie where Nazis are getting shot at are always great to watch, especially in this current cultural climate. The CG effects aren’t overused and there is a lot of monster FX makeup used, which for me as a fan of ’70s and ’80s horror flicks is a major plus.
The only negative things I can say about this movie is that the plot is predictable and the acting at times felt unconvincing. Many times during the movie, my guesses of what would happen in the next scene were correct. This is a straightforward action horror movie and nothing more. A lot of the actors in this movie I’ve never seen before and most did a good job convincing me of the character they portrayed, but there were a few times when it felt that these actors are still green.
Trigger warning: A near rape that occurs in this movie may be an issue for some viewers.
Overall, I enjoyed Overlord and readers who are fan of horror action movies will have a great time watching this. Or if you want a movie where Nazis get what they deserve, this will fill your appetites.
I give Overlord (Paramount Pictures, Bad Robot; R; 1hr, 49mins) 3 out of 5.
