Overlord (Review)
Overlord is the Movie I Never Knew I Needed.
Overlord has something for everyone! It’s got an awesome black lead, a strong female character, and a bunch of Nazi’s getting exactly what they deserve. Toss in some pretty creepy horror elements and just a touch of sci-fi and you’ve got one of the most memorable movies of 2018. Of course, that isn’t to say that Overlord doesn’t have its fair share of issues. It is a far from a perfect movie, but when you’re watching Nazi’s getting the shit kicked out of them, who really cares? The bottom line is that Overlord is well worth the price of admission and will leave you feeling satisfied in the best possible way.
I talked a bit about diversity earlier this year, and Overlord definitely is a film that I’m going to use as a prime example that things are definitely heading in the right direction these days. At the center of the film is Jovan Adepo (who you might have seen in a few series or even last years twisted Mother!). The reason I feel compelled to mention this is that there’s no reason for the main character to be black (or white for that matter), yet director Julius Avery decided to go with the actor best suited for the role and it paid off tremendously. Adepo brings a sense of uncertainty to his performance that perfectly fits a young G.I. torn from his front yard and tossed into hell itself during World War II. His performance is what manages to make Overlord a true horror film in the best possible way. After all, we’re not watching these movies to just to watch everyone die, we’re watching because we hope someone will live, and Adepo manages to give us a character worth cheering for.
Of course, the bad guys in Overlord are Nazis, because Nazis are the ultimate bad guys when it comes to, well, everything. The problem is that these Nazis don’t have a face or a name to them. I’m not saying I want to learn more about Nazi hopes and dreams (I really don’t care about all that). However, I want the satisfaction of seeing an evil bastard blown away or shot up, or burned alive. After all, I’m one of those guys who believes that a hero is only as good as their villains. While Overlord has a lot of great villains in it, they’re based on principle alone. I wanted to see the evil in their eyes as they did truly unspeakable things. However, Overlord really only gives us Pilou Asbæk (who you might remember from Game of Thrones) to boo at and even then he’s not nearly as evil as the bastards we got to see in any of the Indiana Jones movies. Then again that doesn’t change the fact that he gets pretty hard to look at when things go south in the third act of the film.
Overlord really does play out like everything I could want from a video game. It’s essentially the best parts of Wolfenstein come to life. We’re given some heroes that are easy to root for who are then snatched up and tossed right into a whole mess of trouble. The brave souls at the center of this film are given an impossible mission to help save D-Day. It’s hardly going to be a walk in the park from the get-go, but just to make things extra hard for our heroes there is some sort of twisted Nazi experiment going on in the village they have to infiltrate. Luckily they stumble upon a French resistance fighter, Mathilde Ollivier, who is willing to help lend a hand (one they desperately need). The thing is that it doesn’t matter how many people they have to help out, once they enter the Nazi compound they soon discover that they’re up to no good. Soon the soldiers find themselves fighting an undying army as a result of the twisted experiments happening inside.
Overlord is one of the most unique movies I’ve seen in recent memory and is on the fast track to being one of my personal favorites of the year. It’s everything that Stars & Popcorn stands for, a combination of capable performances, an intriguing story and plenty of explosions. J.J. Abrams manages to pull all the pieces together to make a truly memorable movie. I certainly respect his work as a director, but I believe this is his true calling. After Cloverfield and now Overlord, he’s definitely managed to prove that he doesn’t have to be behind the camera to make a truly great movie and the films he does produce are of the highest quality.
Honestly, right now in theaters, there isn’t a film I’d recommend you see more. There are plenty of films with better acting or a more elegant story, but this one has Nazis doing twisted Nazi things and getting their comeuppance in the best possible way. It is the best possible example of modern diversity in film and I loved every minute. Sure, Overlord is hardly a perfect film, but it’s everything I never knew I needed and is genre-mashing at its very best. I had a bloody good time in theaters watching it, and I’m willing to bet that you’ll have an absolute blast watching it as well.
