Overlord (2018) Dir: Julius Avery

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Julius Avery's 2018 world war sci-fi horror is one I've owned on DVD for a while now, but kept forgetting to watch. I've been on a good run of watching films lately, and finally this one reached the front of the queue. I'll be honest, I thought it was a zombie film, but it isn't really.

Some pretty amateur looking shots that were mostly full of mediocre CGI aside, the film had alright visuals. I wouldn't say I was blown away, but some of the explosions looked cool, and I thought some of the physical effects looked pretty great.

The story was all action almost the whole way through. There were only really one or two scenes where the film slowed down to breathe. On the one hand, that was good, because it kept my attention and was pretty exciting. On the other hand, it meant that a lot of the film felt rushed, and there was very little character development.

Jovan Adepo was pretty good in the film's lead role, although I would have loved if he'd shown a little more personality at times. But then, that goes back to the issue concerning the pace of the film, rather than him lacking in performance.

Wyatt Russell was probably the best performer of anyone, all-in-all. He had a definite on-screen presence that his co-stars didn't necessarily have. It made him feel important and necessary to the plot. He suited the role pretty damn well too, which helps.

Aside from those two, Pilou asbæk made for a pretty forgettable antagonist, who really needed more work in the character department beyond creepy SS officer. On the other hand, I think Mathilde Ollivier and John Magaro provided pretty good, but not exceptional, performances in their supporting roles.

Overall, I had plenty of fun watching this, but I did find myself wondering why the sci-fi elements were so briefly explored. I would rather they had given more time to it - instead, it felt kind of rushed. I liked a lot of the wild action in the film, but there wasn't much below the surface, unfortunately.