Overlord (2018)

User Review

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  TheMovieDiorama

  6 / 10

  Overlord injects its own Nazi serum resulting in firepower, gore and not much else. Two saturated sub-genres, WWII and zombies, come together in an over-the-top B movie that showcases outstanding practical effects and visceral action. Bones violently snapping, bullets ferociously flying and bodies hanging on hooks. Bloody surface aside, the lack of character depth and a poorly written script limits the film's enjoyability. An operation to destroy a German control tower is made more challenging when a group of American soldiers discover secret Nazi experiments. The opening sequence may just be the best introduction to a film this year. Exhilarating is an understatement. The sheer violence and terrifying warfare leaves you breathless, gasping for air as you witness soldiers swim for their lives. The third act then fully embraces the genre traits that it aimed to illustrate. Infiltrating an underground Nazi laboratory where grotesque experiments reside in tiny cells, uncontrollably spewing blood and savagely ripping flesh apart. It highlights the exceptional cosmetic work used to enhance the authentic gore that is conceived, particularly Wafner's shredded face. Kurzel's score vibrates your heart with deafeningly piercing bass, accompanied by loud gun shots. However, everything in between these two segments is entirely mediocre, and the screenplay is at fault. The pace drops substantially for thirty minutes after the soldiers land, attempting to establish personalities within these characters. Ultimately though, you just don't care. The protagonist is an overused cliché, the only one embodying a moral compass. The other soldiers, except perhaps two, are expendable and offer no natural investment towards them. The dialogue and interactions between them felt empty, and used just to prolong the runtime. Several character choices were stupid. The ineptitude was absurd, especially as a Nazi officer quite clearly fools one of them by playing dead. Also two unnecessary jump scares that were both predictable and excruciatingly loud. Having said that, I enjoyed Overlord for what it was. Ambitiously gory.

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