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io9 ReviewsCritical reviews and analyzes of movies, TV shows, comics, books, etc. Suzerain It's not what you expect. The trailers and the first buzz served as a "Nazi zombie" movie, which, while true, does not do justice. Actually, Suzerain is above all a war movie quite typical of enemy lines on a group of soldiers who have to complete a mission. It turns out that to carry out this mission, they will have to kill Nazis who could be zombies, which is no doubt.
Directed by Julius Avery and produced by J.J. Abrams, Suzerain owes a lot more to The Dirty Dozen, save the soldier Ryan or Bastards without glory only that The dawn of the dead, The Walking Dead, or 28 days later. The film begins, a bit like Save Private Ryan, with a visceral and intense action scene of American soldiers attempting to invade France. Instead of storming the beaches, they parachute behind enemy lines the night before Normandy to destroy a tower that will make this invasion possible.
Avery and his team suck you off immediately, presenting a group of ragtag soldiers who go from being too confident to frightened. They encounter dramatized enemy bombardments through a cacophony of sounds and images that will make you vibrate. When the survivors get together, they find that most of their business is dead. There are only four of them left (played by Jovan Adepo, Iain De Caestecke, Wyatt Russell and John Magaro) and they have a few precious hours to invade the city occupied by the Germans to complete their mission. Along the way, they meet a girl from the region (Mathilde Ollivier) who will help them and open their eyes to sinister experiences in the city.
As the plot takes shape, the first clues of a zombie movie begin to appear. It's just a dish rather than a main dish. Most of the film is the story of the war, but from time to time, something odd happens: a pile of bones, a scary laboratory, a deformed aunt. And as the film gets closer to its climax, the zombies stuff (which is not just "zombies" in itself, but actually a slight modification of this concept) is becoming more and more widespread. In the end, this is the main obstacle for the soldiers and Avery presents us terrifying and cool creature effects that lead to a very big gain exciting.
Suzerain is unique in that the beginning and the end have the impression of coming from two different films to which the story must connect. The beginning comes from a scary and scary war movie. The end is a fun zombie scene filled with adrenaline. To go from one big chunk to another, the movie narrows, unfolds in a handful of places, with a few characters, and really uses all its resources successfully. After the grand opening, the movie has almost no feeling of being able to return to that level of intensity. And yet, those quieter moments in the middle are actually what makes Suzerain job. Avery obviously has a very good command of the action, but she feels more personal thanks to the performances and the chemistry of the casting.
Suzerain is at its best when the Nazi zombies do not go around the soldiers, but they stick to their mission and that is due to the actors. When characters such as the Adepo Editor take confidence in themselves and impose themselves. When a scene from the beginning of the movie informs of what happens later. These moments give the audience an emotional base that makes the zombie stuff even more disturbing. Then, when the early soldiers and the zombies end up fighting, we care a lot more than we did at the beginning. This, in turn, gives the entire film a good sense of structure and cohesion.
A snag about SuzerainHowever, almost everything seems a little too familiar. A little too predictable. Maybe we have not seen all these ingredients mingle in the same way, but we know each and every one of them well. War movie? Check. Zombie movie? Check. Bad Nazi? Check. Snarky sniper elite? Check. You had the idea. Some of these aspects have their own version, but not all, and this familiarity prevents the film from rising to another stage.
And yet, the end result is still very good. Suzerain mix war and zombies in a way that is familiar, but well done, and adds enough personality and pizazz to make it worthwhile to buy time.
Suzerain had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest 2018. It opens everywhere on November 9th.
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