Overlord is an extremely entertaining piece of B-movie schlock.

For some people, calling a movie a B movie is an overwhelming condescension, but for others it's a praise and an implicit recommendation. Between directing blockbusters like Star Trek and Star Wars: The awakening of the forceJ. J. Abrams has spent the last few years passionately adopting this last point of view by producing true B-series films through his company Bad Robot. Starting with the movie about monsters found Cloverfieldand continue with his spiritual successors 10 Cloverfield Lane and The Cloverfield paradoxAbrams used low-budget genre mashups to help beginner and future filmmakers sharpen their talents, most of them producing entertaining films.

The latest film from Bad Robot, Suzerain, continue in the same vein. The second feature by Australian director Julius Avery (after 2014) Old scoundrel) tells the story of a World War II mission that went horribly wrong when a group of American soldiers discovered what could best be described as a group of Nazi zombies. It is a bloody and bloody affair, which answers the total absurdity of this basic principle. But it's actually a sleek movie, filled with remarkable visuals and quality performances that turn the movie into something more than the sum of its parts. It's huge, nerve-wracking and quite ridiculous at times, but it's fun all along the way.

The film follows a team of soldiers sent to Nazi-occupied France just hours before D-Day. Their mission is to detonate a key emitter so that German forces can not emit radio with a warning about the big one. attack. But before the plane reaches its point of fall, it is hit by enemy fire. Most of the soldiers are killed and the few survivors launch themselves into the mission. Among them is Boyce (LeftoversJovan Adepo), a soldier with a fresh face who has not yet really fought against the consequences of the war; Ford (Kurt Russell's son, Wyatt Russell), a grizzled veteran who is ready to do whatever is necessary to carry out his mission; and Tibbet (John Magaro), a smartass to do everything with a goof ready for all occasions.

These are well-known archetypes, and as the first half of the film unfolds, it's a fairly classic war movie. With the help of French rebel Chloé (Mathilde Ollivier), paratroopers travel to the city where the transmitter is located, where they hide in front of the infamous Nazi officer Wafner (Game of thronesPilou Asbæk). But things go wrong when GIs discover that the church is the basis of something much more ominous than that of a radio transmitter – and they are the only ones able to stop it before the # Invasion of Normandy.

This summary of the plot conceals an important part of SuzerainThe story, out of respect for J.J. Abrams mystery box. But staying blind is undoubtedly the best way to enjoy this movie. Nothing Suzerain This is particularly new – World War II footage, character jokes, moral issues, the horror of his second half – but he excels in pure visceral performance. Suzerain is an impressive director's statement from a confident filmmaker capable of handling dynamic action sequences and increasing tension, as a veteran of action and horror. The heartbreaking opening sequence sets the tone, while Boyce and the rest of his team are desperate to parachute their plane even as it is torn apart. The inspiration is obviously the heartbreaking opening of Steven Spielberg. Save Private Ryan, but Avery enriches the story with the sensitivity of a modern video game. The message is clear: Yes, this race will be exaggerated, but we will always take it very seriously..

Photo of Peter Mountain / Paramount Pictures

And for the rest of his execution, that's exactly what Suzerain Is. The scenario of Billy Ray (The hunger Games) and Mark L. Smith (The ghost) is effective and strong, giving most characters their own moment and adding many colorful exchanges. This is reminiscent of the more intense work of screenwriter-director Shane Black, with Suzerain providing a much better model for a tale of "men on mission" inspired by the genre that Black did in his recent The predator.

Magaro's Tibbet is the most striking example. He comes out of the screen with a single line and digs his compatriots. Russell alleviates the charm shown by previous roles, recalling the weariness of the world that his father demonstrated in John Carpenter's The thing (a clear spiritual cousin to Suzerain). Ollivier demonstrates strength and resilience, although ultimately his character is more of an accessory to create tension for others in an extremely tired and regressive way, rather than for someone with his own agency and of his destiny. This is the film of Jovan Adepo and his character, Boyce, represents some of the best aspects of the film.

His performance is magnificent. Optimistic and principled at first, Boyce is shocked by the horror of what he discovers in the mysterious precincts of the church that houses the Nazi transmitter. The film revolves around his turn from neophyte to hardened soldier. Early, Suzerain In practice, he clearly states that his great moral question will be whether people are to lower themselves to the level of their enemies to defeat them. For Boyce, this manifests itself in different ways, especially when he tries to prevent Ford from torturing an enemy soldier. Although the results were not revealed as Boyce wanted, his own moral compass guides him in all the events of this film. This is the ideal substitute for the audience, which traces the type of emotional journey that is crucial to anchor a movie B as Suzerain.

Photo of Peter Mountain / Paramount Pictures

Boyce's presence resembles his own form of social commentary. The real story of how America treated its African-American soldiers during the Second World War is deplorable, but Overlord never mention the race. This could be interpreted as a thematic statement against the Nazi mission of a "millennial Reich", as Wafner says, but if so, it has never been clearly stated. This sounds more like a casual creative choice than a statement, much like the use of the Nazis by the movie as a convenient villain.

However, given the current political climate and the prominent issues of racism and anti-Semitism in 2018, the Nazi film comic strip begins to look like a missed opportunity, or even a misstep. There is the joy of escape in Suzerainundoubtedly, and it is clear that World War II films inspire him more than the real world – but this may not be a good time to depict murderous white supremacists as a threat to horror of yesteryear

But to dissociate the film from the current political and cultural climate, Suzerain is a shocking and exciting B-movie show that works at its own level. It should be mentioned that, although it is certainly not a Cloverfield film as it was supposed, it almost certainly could have been it. There is a fleeting allusion to the idea that a kind of power or energy exists in the country under the small town of France, which is crucial for the secret mission of the Nazis. A single additional line connecting this to a sort of asteroid or meteor would establish a plausible link. Cloverfield link, but fortunately, Abrams and Avery have not finished slapping on a last minute connection as they did with Cloverfield Paradox. There are already too many interconnected films these days; too many cinematographic universes, while the world really needs more independent films. Suzerain has its flaws, but it's a B movie at the studio budget that does just that.