World War II movies and horror movies have been thrown
together more often than you would think. With films like RED SNOW and becoming
hits with the horror crowd it was only a matter of time before a mainstream
film took the subject in hand. After all Hitler was supposed to have believed
in numerous superstitions and various programs have discussed his search for
ancient relics to help him win the war. Now we have OVERLORD.
The time is D-Day and a group of soldiers are being flown behind
enemy lines with the intent of taking down a radio tower so that the air
support for the beach invasion can assistance. Before they can get to their
jump point their plane is shot down, half the men are lost in the plane and the
rest tumble out in the nick of time. Boyce (Jovan Adepo) is lost and confused
but find the remaining members of the team.
Now in charge is Corporal Ford (Wyatt Russell), the
munitions expert whose job it is to take out the tower. Also on hand are the
wise cracking New York accented Tibbet (John Magaro), wanna be writer Dawson
(Jacob Anderson) and Chase (Iain De Caestecker). As they regroup and head into
town Dawson is killed by a landmine. Continuing on they come across French girl
Chloe (Mathilde Ollivier) from the village where the tower is located. With her
own reasons for hating the Nazis she aids them by taking them to her home.
Living with her are her 8 year old brother and her aunt who
has been disfigured due to some strange experiments taking place at the German
headquarters where the tower is. While the team discusses what to do next a
squad of Nazis arrives at the house. Led by SS man Wafner (Pilou Asbaek) he
enters the house while they hide, flirts with Chloe before sending his men
outside and then attempts to rape her. The team comes to her defense and
captures the SS leader and kills his men.
Using what information they can gather from Wafner they
devise a plan to get into the underground headquarters and blow up the tower.
Separating with plans to regroup, Boyce comes across a group of Nazis dumping
the bodies of disfigured experiments gone wrong and burning them. Concerned
that more is taking place he gets on their truck and finds his way into the
underground location.
As he wanders the halls attempting to avoid being discovered
Boyce finds out the types of experiments that have been going on. Various dead
bodies are being brought back to life. The most disturbing is a head with
spinal cord still attached that is living. Sneaking out of the headquarters via
a sewer tunnel, but not before taking a syringe filled with the Nazi serum, he
meets the team and tells them what is taking place. They head back to the house
to determine what to do.
Once there they begin discussing what to do next.
Unfortunately they’re interrupted by a group of soldiers who shoot and kill
Chase before they are all dispensed with. Not knowing what to do Boyce injects
the Nazi serum into Chase who rises but begins to change. His body contorts, he
strength increases and he loses control of himself. They then realize that the
serum will be used to turn the Nazi soldiers into superhuman battle ready
combatants that must be stopped.
The movie works well on many levels but at the same time
becomes far too involved at others. It features so many story points that
overlap and run on top of one another that by the end you’re left trying to
remember if all of them have been answered or not. In spite of that it does
provide an interesting film that will hold your attention from start to finish.
While most of the cast is rarely unknown (for me I only
recognized Bokeem Woodbine as the squad leader killed early on and De
Caestecker who stars as Fitz on TV’s MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D) they all
do an admirable job here. Their fear is palpable and their incredulous looks
when confronted by what could be the ultimate evil are quite believable.
In the end I would recommend the movie for an evening’s
entertainment but perhaps not for the squeamish. The effects are well done and
compliment the story and that story does draw you in. It ended up being a movie
I enjoyed watching but also felt I’d never revisit.
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