Overlord, or, 28 VE Days Later

Overlord came out in 2018 and already feels like it. It feels like something that could only be made in the 2010s, and only from Bad Robot: a fairly big-budgeted VFX and prosthetics-heavy action/horror hybrid take on a schlocky B-movie concept, played completely straight with no hint of camp or parody.

And that’s not intended to be dismissive at all; I am entirely 100% behind a genre movie that knows exactly what it wants to be. I was just surprised by how quickly it’s grown to feel like an early-21st-century time capsule. Since Overlord didn’t do great at the box office, I’m hoping that it didn’t scare Bad Robot and other studios away from taking big swings like this one.

The premise is a squad of American soldiers dropping into occupied France on the night before D-Day, with the mission of destroying a Nazi communications tower built on top of a rural church. After a disastrous landing, the surviving soldiers discover that the church is home to an underground lab performing horrific experiments on the locals.

The most recognizable actor to people like me1 is Wyatt Russell, playing against type as an unlikeable soldier willing to take things too far to complete his mission. Actually, this came out a few years before The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, so maybe this one was establishing a type. In any case, when you find something you’re good at doing, keep doing it.

The main character is Private Boyce, played by Jovan Adepo, as a kind-hearted new recruit who gets in way over his head on his first assignment, and he’s repeatedly challenged to keep his integrity while completing the mission. He’s really good, with lots of opportunities to reveal the core of his character in a role that in lazier hands would just be Hero Protagonist.

And really, the fact that there is room for a little nuance and depth in what could have been a stock character is a sign of my main criticism of the movie. Overlord could easily have devolved into exploitative trash if it had been played as parody, camp, or even with self-awareness. But by playing everything like a straight action movie, it almost over-corrects in the opposite direction. It feels grim and intense, as if the filmmakers were so concentrated on elevating its B-movie concept that they forgot to make it fun.

What is fun, though, is seeing Nazis get blown up and mowed down with machine guns. Especially when they’re Nazi zombies and super-soldiers.

This has been on my list to watch ever since it was released. I wasn’t sure if it were a good fit for Spooktober, since it seemed to be more of an action movie than a monster movie. And it is heavy on the action, but the horror movie moments are pretty gnarly and really well done. Exploring a horrific lab, witnessing a horrific transformation, fending off an attack from a ravenous abomination, and seeing a long series of very unfortunate events happen to the worst, most sadistic Nazi bad guy.

As much as I want to keep seeing filmmakers making movies in the spirit of Overlord, and as much as I liked the movie, I can understand why this one wasn’t a hit. It’s well made, with good performances and good effects, and the story hits the right beats. But it doesn’t feel like the exhilarating fun you’d expect from the premise.

It’s played a little too straight to be an over-the-top monster movie, but the premise is too inherently schlocky for it to ever work as a drama, or even a realistic action movie. Maybe overcoming the amateurish corniness of a B-movie is also unintentionally removing a key part of what makes it work?

1
Apart from Bokeem Woodbine, and not to spoil anything but don’t get too attached to his character ↩︎

1 Apart from Bokeem Woodbine, and not to spoil anything but don’t get too attached to his character