Overlord

Official Australian release date: 6/12/18. Viewed: 15/12/18.

Director: Julius Avery

Actors: Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Mathilde Ollivier, Pilou Asbaek

Genre: War / Horror

Rating: R

     

‘Overlord’ was the codename for the Battle of Normandy in 1944 – and that’s exactly where the film starts, with some American troops on a plane crossing the English Channel. The first 15min is hectic and extremely realistic – possibly the best war opening since ‘Saving Private Ryan’. The film plays like a genuine World War Two film for the first hour or so, following Ed (Adepo), Ford (Russell), Tibbet (Magaro), Chase (De Caestecker) & Rosenfeld (Applewhite) behind Nazi lines in France.

They have a mission to blow up a Nazi communications bunker and are sheltered by Chloe (Ollivier), which brings some nice tension to some scenes. All the actors are good, and we get to meet the local Nazi commander, Wafner (Asbaek), who’s set up nicely as the main bad guy. The team then have less than six hours to blow up the bunker before the invasion begins.

Then the film takes a bit of a twist, elaborating on the rumours of Nazi scientists experimenting with all sorts of weird science – in this case they’re working on some sort of Lazarus Pit which brings people back to life, once enough people are sacrificed. There’s some gruesome stuff and plenty of blood – the R-rating’s well-earned. It’s well-paced, has an excellent score and is fun throughout.

Overall: Great mix of a WWII film and some zombie scares.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.