(Jovan Adepo)
This is a thoroughly nasty,
blood-spattered horror-porn picture that masquerades as a war movie. Perhaps it
should be renamed Overload instead. (Review by Patrick Compton. 5/10)
Movie-goers beguiled by the title of
this movie, which suggests that it’s about the Normandy landings in 1944, are
going to be surprised.
Admittedly, the action during the
first 30 minutes or so does suggest that a group of American paratroopers are
setting out on a mission to destroy a German radio tower perched on top of a
French church. If their mission is a success, it will disrupt the German
communications network and aid the invading troops.
But then something very strange
happens. The soldiers, specifically a sensitive African-American corporal,
Boyce (Jovan Adepo), discover that beneath the tower, Nazi scientists are
engaged in creating uber-soldiers, immune to bullets, who will be part and
parcel of the forthcoming 1000-year Third Reich
At this point the movie changes from
band of brothers to chamber of horrors as the Americans, aided by a comely
French rebel (Mathilde Ollivier), set about undermining Herr Hitler’s attempt
to change history.
On the plus side, this rip-snorting
movie is made with some verve by Australian director Julius Avery and producer
JJ Abrams, with the terrifying opening sequence on board a plane full of
paratroopers particularly effective, while the sound and special effects have
considerable shock value.
There’s a particularly unpleasant Nazi
villain (Pilous Asbaek) overseeing some ghastly experiments, and an American
tough guy (Wyatt Russell) who is not above a bit of torture himself.
The horror, however, founders on the
fact that Nazi medical experimentation really did take place during World War
2, albeit with a very different purpose.
If you know that, this film, scripted
by Billy Ray (who wrote Captain Phillips
and The Hunger Games) leaves an
unpleasant taste in the mouth. But if you don’t care about such things, Overlord can be regarded as an
entertaining and extremely bloody night out.
Overlord opened in
Durban on Friday, November 9, 2018. - Patrick Compton
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