Overlord

On the eve of D-Day, American paratroopers drop behind enemy lines to penetrate the walls of a fortified church and destroy a radio transmitter. As the soldiers approach their target, they soon begin to realize that there's more going on in the Nazi-occupied village than a simple military operation. Making their way to an underground lab, the outnumbered men stumble upon a sinister experiment that forces them into a vicious battle against an army of the undead.

I've always found World War 2 films to be great! I seem to find them really intriguing and engaging, so upon hearing about this film being released and seeing the incredibly creepy trailer, I knew that I would have to go and watch it. This film definitely lives up to that description of creepy as well as intriguing, and it definitely makes for a scary watch. The film really gives a strong impression of not only World War 2 culture, but Nazi science and the creepy connotations behind it, and presents it amazingly well, all in a really creepy shell. But does this film have enough to provide an action packed thriller or does it deserve a bullet in the head?

There was plenty to like from this film for sure! Right from the start, the film introduced the audience into a seriously creepy World War 2 ecosystem through using a war soundtrack and quotes from Hitler, Mussolini and Churchill and through the use of a video montage made the beginning seriously tense. It also introduced us to the type of film that it would be well which was beneficial because it set out a clear outline for how the film would play out. It then threw us right in the deep end of showing soldiers on a plane over France. By throwing us straight into the action of showing us the group of soldiers in the airplane, the film gave us a great impression of the community type of feeling that the soldiers shared and homed in onto the main character. Introducing us to the main character this way and following his experiences during the war allowed us to get really close to his character and personality straight away, and gave us a great insight into the type of character that he was. By using a 'point to prove' character type it provided him with a mission and ensured that he had the audiences backing right from the very beginning, which added a lot of personality and character to him. Seeing him being embarrassed by his squad through the mouse story gave him a purpose and really homed in on his character. It allowed us to get really close and personal to him right from the very beginning which gave us a close friendship appeal with him. I also really liked how a lot of tension was built up right before the drop from the airplane, scenes like this just really helped it to engage with the audience and to make the film exciting for us to experience. It also allowed us to find out more about the main character by seeing him up close and personal through combat, a different take on how films usually introduce audiences to the main character but I really liked it. Throughout these starting scenes I loved how genuine the terror of the soldiers was, it really felt like they were terrified for their lives as their plane was shot up and gave a really realistic impression of war for the people fighting in it. It was also really powerful too and definitely got us engaged with the film from the very beginning. As the film developed it moved quickly. Normally with films, there is the problem of it moving too quickly but within this film, this was definitely justified and had the effect of lots of things constantly going on which helped to make the film exciting and engaging for the audience. There were also inside and side stories which I liked and gave us a breather from the main story line, from seeing the child playing baseball to the landmines in the ground outside the village, there was always something going on in this film and even though these scenes helped to make it realistic, it was also exciting to see the soldiers navigating through the field trying to avoid mines like they were playing minesweeper!

Speaking of mines, there was a lot of surprises and changes in the plot for this film. These surprises were really effective and even though they were slightly predictable due to the lengthy scenes where nothing happened, they still managed to make the audience jump and to keep scenes exciting. The films plot links nicely to this though, I especially liked how it was constantly evolving and adapting; which ensured that it was really exciting for the audience because it was constantly switching the perspectives of what was going on. Whether this was through the awesome side missions or seeing the switches of characters from the group to see their progress in the mission. It was these types of scenes that helped to make the film so engaging, by seeing these different perspectives it essentially gave the audience a 'gods eye' where we had back stage passes to see the events from the different perspectives of the characters. This linked very well to the overall presentation of the plot though, not only was it clear and exciting but it was also really interesting too. It was really straightforward because we were able to decipher what the characters were doing from what they were talking about which again, helped the authenticity of the film and got us involved. My favourite part of the film though was how well the film portrayed war and Nazism, it showed the reality's of the horrors of the Nazi regime, by showing soldiers raping village women to experimenting on vulnerable people. Many of these scenes were difficult to watch but I think that overall, this had a really positive effect because it made the film authentic and gave audiences something to think about. It was absolutely disgusting seeing some of the Nazi experiments on humans but it was necessary to describe just how evil the regime was. The underlying theme of the film was extremely powerful and I loved how the characters and plot joined together to create a really powerful film that told an amazing story. Not only did this film present the theme of terror though, but sadness, anxiousness and happiness. I thought it was really interesting to see how two different characters could have such different emotions at once and though constant switches, this was expertly relayed to the audience. The film got us involved with the emotions very well and really for most of the film, had us on the edge of our seats.

The characters in the film was awesome too, even though we only had a good idea of who a couple of the characters were in depth, we found out more and more about them throughout the film though dialogue, shootouts and arguments that really helped to personify the desperation and fear of the characters. Overlord is at its best when dealing with the soldiers bonding, all thanks to the great chemistry between the cast that makes you care for these characters because we saw first hand what they had been through and the struggles that they all shared at the mercy of the Nazis. One character that was really interesting though was the scientist, there was a really sinister and mysterious energy surrounding him that added a lot of mystery and sinister emotion to the film. It was just small things like seeing a far away shot of him in a white coat standing in the open whilst his experiments were burnt that made him a really sinister and creepy character. Speaking of creepy, the fight scenes in this film were insane!! They were really enjoyable and even though they were majorly grim (I'll never look at a hook the same way again), they were everything you want from a fight scene in a film, fast paced, exciting and full of switches and constant turns that shook it all up. They definitely made for some of the best scenes in the film for sure, but I don't know how long it will take to get some of those characters faces out of my head. Pretty long I think.. This makes the carnage and the horror of the second half of the movie not only entertaining, but emotionally grounded. These scenes were genuinely scary and horrifying, through the use of distorted characters and screeches it made them all absolutely terrifying for us and definitely left the audience on the edge of their seats for large parts of the film, wondering what the laboratory would spit out next!

No film is perfect though, and there are definitely a issues with this film. I think my main issue is probably with the characters, many of them were poorly introduced which seemed to leave really large holes in the plot of the film. Although their acting was great! Key scenes that were supposed to be emotional and powerful, simply weren't because we had little idea of who the actual character was. I think that for the main character, this introduction sequence was perfect but it meant that we weren't given a good idea of who many other characters were because it focused on him so much. Some of the scenes also move far too quickly, I know I said the film moves quickly which is good of course, but I find myself getting confused throughout some scenes as they just weren't clearly described or introduced to us very well. This made further scenes which referenced these earlier scenes, confusing and difficult to understand because they weren't established very well at the start. The film had one main underlying problem though, for many parts of it, the film felt like a Call of Duty Zombies game instead of an actual film, simply because of the content and presentation of this. The explosions and the varieties of zombies that existed. It is difficult to explain but some of these laboratory scenes just felt as if they would be better suited in a game just because of the depth that some of the experiments went into.

Some of the emotions in this film were cut short too which I didn't like either, for example we were barely given enough time to sympathise with Chloe when she was being raped before the emotions changed, or going from sadness when her brother was taken, to anger and anxiousness from the attacks from the Nazi gunmen. It definitely felt like the emotions in this film were far too short lived and weren't allowed to have the full on effect which is a shame and definitely affected how it was presented. It does however, feel like the little brother of 'Inglorious Basterds' which has definitely set the bar for how war films should be. Regardless of that, 'Overlord' is still a solid film.

Overall, I would rate this film an 8.5. I feel that it really gets the audience involved in not only the plot and characters amazingly well but it also gets us involved with the underlying principle of Nazi experiments and the horrors of the war perfectly well which definitely made for plenty of exciting yet gory scenes. It is a great film, sure it could do with some better character introductions and an improvement on how emotions were portrayed to us, but overall it is definitely an enjoyable film to watch. I would definitely recommend this film though, just brace yourself for lots of disturbing images and scenes which will definitely stick with you, but if you're looking for action and thrills in a real world format in the parcel of a war film, then this is definitely the film for you! Thankfully, I was able to see this as part of my Cineworld Unlimited card perks, another early access film!

Thank you for reading my review, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing this review and watching the film. Thanks again and have an awesome day! :)