World War II? Check. Zombies? Check. Explosive action and an original story that makes for one heck of a ride? Definitely check. From start to finish, Overlord did not hesitate to deliver gut-wrenching, World War II zombie fun. For an action/horror movie, the film dodged a lot of cliche movie bullets and didn’t constantly make you mad at the characters for making stupid decisions. There’s also a small amount of dark humor in this movie to balance out the soldier’s rather serious demeanor. Considering the fact that these guys dropped into enemy lines with backup days away, I don’t blame them for not being the happy go lucky action stars audiences are accustomed to.  

The film starts on the eve of D-Day and follows American paratroopers tasked to drop behind enemy lines to destroy a radio transmitter hidden in a french township church. As the soldiers approach their target, they soon realize that there’s more going on in the Nazi-occupied village than a simple military operation. They make their way to an underground lab and the outnumbered men stumble upon a sinister experiment that forces them into a vicious battle against an army of the undead.

Like the zombie soldiers themselves, the film was kept in secret for the longest time until the trailer for it was released in July. Up until then, the public only knew that it was a World War II movie with some scary stuff going on. J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions is known for keeping many of their projects under wraps until a few months before their release dates to create a hype that won’t die out if the film were to come out six to nine months later like many other films. As frustrating as the waiting process for the film was, I’m very glad because in the end my viewing experience was enhanced by knowing as little as possible. I only watched the teaser trailer once when it first came out but completely forgot about it by the time the movie started, which was in my favor because there were quite a few twists and turns that were so much fun to experience.  

Overlord wasted no time getting to the action. Even when there aren’t any screaming zombies chasing scared out of their minds soldiers around a creepy Nazi laboratory, the tension of the outnumbered American soldiers is enough to keep you at the edge of your seat. Bullet holes in faces aside, the gore isn’t super intense if you’ve become accustomed to violence in other media. If you’re a fan of Game of Thrones or Criminal Minds, this will be a walk in the park for you.

The plot is very simple and doesn’t require much thinking. The characters have a clear objective that they and the writers don’t lose focus of. That being said, the film can beat you over the head reminding you about the main objective and can be predictable at times. Not to say that it’s cringe-worthy predictable, but there are familiar plot points throughout. Many action movies nowadays take themselves too seriously and throw in a bunch of unnecessary plot points that don’t make the film fun and ultimately give the audience a headache. Simple plot and less thinking works better for action movies and thankfully, Overlord knows that.

If you’re a history buff who doesn’t mind some historical revision or a fan of the popular Call of Duty: Zombies series, you will have a blast with this love child of old school World War II movies and gory, gut wrenching zombie action. Exploding Nazi soldier heads and good, old fashioned, cool guy American soldiers sticking one to “ol’ Adolf” doesn’t require much thinking, but it sure does make for a rollercoaster of a movie.