Overlord does what I ask of every film. Hollywood needs to find a way to bring Nazis and monsters together to eat each other. If not that, then turn it into a men on a mission movie to kill said Nazis. What I’m saying is that World War II only stays in our hearts because murdering Nazis will never go out of style. So, what is the deal with Cloverfield Saga 4 aka Overlord aka not Cloverfield connected now aka quit the crap Bad Robot. We know what this movie is meant to be.
Bad Robot doesn’t just pull a World War II horror movie out of their rectum months after The Cloverfield Paradox hits without a gameplan. Mind you, this film was shooting before Paradox ran into its studio trouble. Before we dig too deep into the film, I’m make my feelings known. I believe Overlord to be the victim of studio panic over a possible franchise dying on the vine. After having a third entry die hard, the push was made to eradicate 4’s ties to the greater universe. After all, what does 10 Cloverfield Lane have to do with the main series outside of a few scenes? Nothing. It’s just another cog in the greater anthology.
Bokeem Woodbine, Wyatt Russell and Jovan Adepo sell the Warfare, as we buy them as a guerilla squad blowing apart a Nazi science experiment. What makes the rather straightforward story stand out is how hard they lean into the violence. At times, it feels like a live-action take on the World War II segment from Heavy Metal. The gore is unflinching and feels angry in its efforts to unnerve the audience.
I would have liked something better than the ending, but it feels apt for this kind of film. That being said, I plan to watch it in context of the Cloverfield films. You can fight me on this, JJ. I’m glad that you’re retconning The Last Jedi, but you ain’t retconning this one.
The 4K transfer is one of the best of the year. Between the vintage titles to the deep blacks in the Nazi work areas, you will feel every inch of the atmosphere. Plus, the Atmos track just about smacked my kidneys in during the final attack. The special features are hit and miss, but I did enjoy getting to see how in-depth some of the FX were executed. I love nothing if not technical skill in genre movies. Check it out.
Overlord is available now!
