Review of Overlord

Overlord (1975)
5/10
boring and simplistic
23 October 2015
Warning: Spoilers
There were millions of unknown soldiers in WW2 … some heroic … some cowardly … and some downright stupid. Their stories are compelling … plucked from youth and loved ones … sent to faraway places … dealt an unremarkable death … insignificant in the maelstrom. This is the premise of Overlord. It is a good premise for a film, but that alone cannot save this film from the ash heap.

Overlord has a huge problem … the simplicity of its plot. The film is about 83 minutes long … of which about half is stock war footage. Seriously, it seemed like they started with the stock and wrote a story around it … which led to a very simple plot. Character development is woefully missing in this film. Furthermore there are parts of the film that do nothing to drive the plot forward and leave you wondering what the heck is this about (note the scene with the French money … talk about a waste of 5 minutes).

Overlord is a surreal, meandering, simplistic and often times pointless look at the preparation for the D Day invasion. It specifically focuses on one individual soldier's experience and his sense of futility and doom. It is maudlin … has very little historical context … and uses way too much stock. Finally, it suffers from a downright stupid ending.

In honor of those who fought I begrudgingly give this film a 5 but it deserves a 3!
12 out of 27 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed