Overlord

An over-the-top war battle between five American paratroopers and Nazis brewing experimental medicine in France to transform dead bodies into mutated super-soldiers. This is a total victory of polished production values in an otherwise entirely below-average story full of one-dimensional characters and stupid American clichés. The film is a lot like Frankenstein's Army, with an extremely generous budget and ostentatiously exhibition-like action scenes, relying heavily on horror stylized elements and explicit brutality. When you have a leaky and stupid screenplay, first-rate assertiveness and a large budget seldom tend to save it. The visual gloss can work as a band-aid, but in this case it peels off quickly if you don’t buy into the very impressive parachute introduction and realize that the rest the film takes place in two locations, that you can count the zombies on one hand, and that even the best tricks and masks don’t cover up the barren dialogues, lack of exaggeration, lack of imagination, a predictable ordinary plot, and the fact that a six-year-old boy with ball in hand constantly gets in the way of the heroes, probably to make it even more American. (10/13/2018)

A bit of a cheat on the viewer from my point of view, because instead of jacked-up zombie action (as the posters enticed), it's basically an unremarkable war movie with a stylish look and an altogether appealing cast. The whole storyline with the helper on the French side wasn't entirely bad, but I honestly expected a more significant revenge payoff (given the nastiness the French girl was subjected to). As a one-off, though, it wasn't bad. (06/28/2020)

If Overlord was a typical war film, I would have probably given it a boo rating, but it was a standard slasher film for people who can appreciate Wolfenstein or Resident Evil, so I enjoyed the mayhem and suppressed my criticism of the historical inaccuracies. It would have been pointless in this case anyway. If you don't mind a few hectoliters of spilled blood, the occasional deeper insight into the human anatomy, and a little French baseball fan, just relax, switch off your brain (except for the basic functions, that is) and there's a pretty good chance you'll be entertained. (03/08/2019)

Overlord is a kind of silly B film which is dead serious about itself, painfully heavy, and deprived of one-liners, juice and memorable scenes alike. There was just one creative and funny trash scene (the grenade in the mouth) that I was able to enjoy. The rest is just awfully austere and has a superficial pathos that only a lazy screenwriter could produce. In the best parts, the plot doesn’t offer more than dull escapes when faced with a Deadpool-looking creature with no costume. The characters are so deplorably designed. Just to name a few, they could be described as the warm-hearted black man, the badass cowboy, the nasty Italian, the clever kid, the emancipated French lady and a generic SS villain with a horde of brainless Nazis – all being flat, uninteresting and predictable. And the actors’ performances do nothing to help or enhance them. To add insult to injury, the film is unnecessarily noisy, including the characters who shout at each other all the time, even when there’s no reason. All flows in a linear predictable way, without any twist or surprise. As for those couple of scenes with too many effects, they’re definitely not compensating for the dull scenario (and I don’t agree with those who say the initial airdrop is well shot). [Sitges 2018] (10/12/2018)

The ultimate guilty pleasure and the best war horror movie ever. Hereditary is the most essential horror film of the year, Ghostland the most intense, A Quiet Place the most original and Overlord is the most emotional and brutal. Overlord serves up a whirlwind of eye-candy attractions from the 5th minute that don’t let up and leave you gasping for breath until the closing credits. A technically perfect polished action spree with breathtaking cinematography, an atmosphere driven by a nostalgic “Wolfenstein”, a likeable bunch of soldiers whose fate you care about and spectacular action backed by juicy gore. The make-up artists are incredibly skilled and serve up some very nice shots. The film manages to build solid tension on several occasions, there is no shortage of shocking jump scares and killing Nazis has never been more effective and entertaining in a film than here. There are fewer zombies, but they are all the more unstoppable bastards. Story-wise, the film doesn't wow, but anyone expecting Oscar nominations from a WWII horror film is out of their mind. Here clearly form wins over content, which not everyone will buy, but those who agree to the rules of the film will literally gush with excitement and thrill. It's a pity that Overlord probably won't make it to local cinemas, it will lose its charm at home on TV. The last time I left the cinema this excited was Deadpool 2 this year. (11/12/2018)