[wpdevart_youtube]USPd0vX2sdc[/wpdevart_youtube]OVERLORD ****
Dir: Julius Avery (18, 109 mins)
A bonkers B-movie writ large, this World War II escapade has soldiers parachuting behind enemy lines; men on a mission on the eve of D-Day. A harrowing opening when their plane is shot down leads to further unpleasant revelations as the plot takes us into gory supernatural territory. Caretakered by producer JJ Abrams, the film sets out to defy expectations. The opening, reminiscent of Saving Private Ryan in the air, sets an unsettling tone which worsens as the surviving soldiers enter a Nazi occupied village. Here, a mad doctor conducts scientific experiments in a bid to create a 1000-year army. Wyatt Russell and Jovan Adepo head up the fresh-faced cast thrust into hell, having to combat Nazi soldiers who can be shot in the face and survive. Mathilde Ollivier is a French freedom fighter, Ian de Castecker a war correspondent who gets more than he bargained for, and Pilou Asbeck a sinister SS man. Overlord is nothing more than an entertaining action horror with some alarmingly intense sequences and some simplistic goodies vs baddies methodology. Above this, Adepo shines as the green recruit confronted with horror. It rattles along, full of jump scares and perfect fodder for the action-hungry crowd who like a bit of Naziploitation. Opens Nov 7