Watching: OVERLORD

Year: 2018
Rating: R
Director: Julius Avery
On June 5, 1944 - the eve of D-Day - a handful of American paratroopers, after being discovered by the Nazis, barely survive a drop into enemy territory in France. Their mission: to destroy a radio tower the Germans have set up in an old church in a small French town, which they plan to use to communicate with Berlin for the attack on Normandy. The main/point of view character of the film is a young, naive recruit named Boyce (Jovan Adepo, in a terrifically understated performance); it's through his eyes we witness the horror of their plane being shot from the sky (an awesome opening sequence) and the survivors finding each other on the ground (those the Germans don't find first), as the small group of men come across a young Frenchwoman in the village, Chloe (Mathilde Ollivier), who gives them shelter due to her own axes to grind with the Nazis. Already, by the time the soldiers are safely ensconced in the home of Chloe and her kid brother (as well as a grandmother, who has taken ill to her bed upstairs), the film has had several harrowing moments that already make it feel like the opening of a decent war picture. But when Boyce finds a way into the centuries-old church itself, part of the team trying to take down the tower, the film quickly shifts to horror when it's slowly revealed what the Germans are really using the church for - and how it all could drastically change the course of the war in favor of the Nazis. Overlord is a bloody part-war, part-time zombie film that balances (for the most part) both genres well, with a good cast and surprisingly good CGI/special effects. Scary, gory, and a lot of fun, the film's only disappointment is that it does fall into some cliches/tropes of the genre later on, making for an ending that feels less than fresh. But more than worth a watch, well-acted and well-written and with standout performances by Iain De Caestecker ("Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.") and especially Jovan Adepo, heading up an already-strong cast.  7.5/10 stars