Review: Overlord

WWII, just before D-Day. An American paratrooper unit’s plan hits a snag that sends their plane crashing down in France and wiping out about half of the platoon in one fell swoop. With all above-ranking officers felled, Corporal Wyatt Russell takes charge and they attempt to continue the mission, using a local woman for help. She provides them with cover in her house, but unfortunately the Nazi officer (Pilou Asbaek) who occasionally imposes his will on the young woman has come for a late night visit. The men (John Magaro among them) are able to overpower the creep and hold him hostage. Private Jovan Adepo briefly goes out to see if he can sneak into an enemy facility. There he witnesses Nazi scientists conducting experiments on corpses with a serum that basically creates super soldier zombies. Back at the house, problems arise when Russell and sensitive Adepo have a disagreement over humane/inhumane treatment of a prisoner. Bokeem Woodbine appears at the beginning as the platoon’s commanding officer, a Sergeant.

Apparently this 2019 flick is Bad Robot’s first R-rated film in the States. Directed by Julius Avery (helmsman of the quite good Aussie crime pic “Son of a Gun”), it never quite catches on the way you want it to due to a slow pace and a main character full of dumbfuck decisions. Jovan Adepo is also probably the least interesting member of the cast. However, as slow as the opening 45 minutes is, it’s also the most interesting and well-scripted portion of the film. There’s also some solid support work by Wyatt Russell, John Magaro, and ‘Pirate Greyjoy’ Pilou Asbaek as a nasty Nazi.

Unfortunately, after those 45 minutes, the script by Billy Ray (writer/director of “Shattered Glass” and “Breach”) and Mark L. Smith (“Vacancy”, “The Hole”, and inexplicably “The Revenant”) completely collapses and pretty much assassinates the main character’s goodwill with the audience with dumb decision after dumb decision. First, he gets upset with Russell beating up Asbaek. He’s a Nazi. A Nazi! I’m sorry, but this is the one situation where he whole ‘We can’t be like them’ argument doesn’t really work, I’m afraid. I’m not saying I agree with the beating of course, just that we all know what Hitler and the Nazis did to the Jews in particular, and I’m nowhere near able to see the moral equivalency there. I didn’t believe it to be remotely plausible (Yes, I know it’s a film essentially about zombies, but it nonetheless acquires a real-life historical period for its schlocky fictional purposes). It gets even worse when aforementioned dumbfuck Adepo uses the Nazi mad scientist serum and uses it on one of his own fallen comrades. Why rescue someone from Nazi mad scientist captivity only to use the Nazi mad science yourself?

Anyway, there’s some nice gory FX/makeup work and the super nutty finale perks one up a bit. It’s just a shame we’re being skippered by a moron, because the Nazi experimentation plot is occasionally fun and could’ve formed the basis for a very fun piece of schlock. Instead, Dudley Do-Right meets Gomer Pyle pretty much torpedoes the thing. What a shame, a mixture of “Wolfenstein” and “Re-Animator” had some promise if you ask me.

Watchable gory schlock with a good supporting cast, but a cataclysmically stupid lead character bringing it all crashing down somewhat below what it could’ve been.  

Rating: C+