OVERLORD ■ OVER-LAUDED
OVERLORD could have been awesome, if only it could settle on a particular genre. Fans of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and BAND OF BROTHERS will likely appreciate the World War II-focused opening. After a parachute drop goes horribly wrong for greenhorn paratrooper Boyce (Jovan Adepo) and the rest of his company, Aussie director Julius Avery quickly leans into some effective and grounded horror imagery.
OVERLORD is, after all, supposed to be a horror movie. Not long after, though, the horror takes a back seat to a mystery that, ultimately, has an underwhelming conclusion. The fact that the action sequences, though hardly original, are the best features of OVERLORD is disappointing. It makes sense that the action works given Avery’s previous inaugural feature effort in Aussie crime caper SON OF A GUN.
In fairness, the lack of horror feels a whole lot less Avery’s problem and more an issue with the story. Despite a mystery that continually promises horrific revelations, the results are tame and the scare moments are far too familiar to have any meaningful impact. With the horror mostly muted, you’re left with a movie that’s more bombastic action. But even that’s in short supply.
On top of this, OVERLORD reeks of a movie that received a budget injection after the fact. There’s too many longwinded dialogue scenes that stall the pace and destroy any built-up tension, but these scenes are spliced with some money-shot moments that suggest budget thrown at the wrong cinematic elements.
While it helps that a solid cast of mostly unknown actors help to carry these dialogue-driven moments, these scenes distract from all three of the more interesting elements of OVERLORD: namely, the occasional action, the sparse horror and the initially compelling mystery.
OVERLORD isn’t terrible. It just could have been a whole lot better if it delivered on the promise of a whacky alternative reality where next-level Nazi experimentation reveals truly horrific results. As it stands, OVERLORD has some great elements, but never truly rises up to be greater than the sum of these dissected parts.
