Now Playing


Here's a look at the new movie I saw this week.

Overlord
Starring:
 Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Pilou Asbæk, John Magaro, and Mathilde Ollivier
Synopsis: Sometimes movies just don't get a good advertising campaign. And there's a variety of reasons for this. Sometimes they lack a focal star, or it's hard to really give a picture of what the plot is going to be. I think that's the case with "Overlord," which opened last Friday. The film had a frenetic advertising campaign that made it look, in part, like a horror film. In fact, when I went with a friend, we both thought part of the plot revolved around vampires. In fact, I wasn't super excited to see the film based on its marketing campaign, and there were even rumors it was a secret "Cloverfield" film. It isn't, and the ads are misleading. I started to wonder if that was the case looking at the Rotten Tomatoes score. It was at 90 percent last Thursday in a critical score (now at 80 percent), which is outstanding for any film, much less the kind of film this appeared to be. So I was curious, what was I missing? Turns out, I was missing a lot. This is a World War II film about a group of soldiers that drop into a small town in France on the eve of D-Day with the mission to disable a radio tower, allowing the Allied troops to make a successful D-Day landing. What they find is the Nazis using the people of the village for human experimentation. That, too, doesn't even give this film its due. The whole project is more engrossing, more engaging and better than the marketing, and something you really have to see to understand. Adepo is the lead character, and is very good. So, too, is Russell, who plays the leader of the group of soldiers. Asbaek, best known for his work on "Game of Thrones," makes a compelling villain, and Ollivier plays a young woman in the village who joins the U.S. troops in helping to combat the foreign invaders. I enjoyed the action and thought the story flowed well. It was a film that was more interesting and more engaging than I expected, and that's probably why it's scored so high on Rotten Tomatoes with critics (80 percent) and audiences (76 percent). It's one that's worth checking out if you like action films, even if you were on the fence based on the marketing.
Rating: R for strong bloody violence, disturbing images, language, and brief sexual content.
Verdict: Three stars out of four.

Upcoming Releases:
Friday, November 16: "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindewald," "Widows," "Instant Family"
Wednesday, November 21: "Ralph Breaks the Internet," "Robin Hood," "Green Book," "Creed II," "The Front-Runner"

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Burial a courtroom drama with heart

Broncos Draft Targets

Favorite Westerns, No. 43