'Overlord' Review

On the eve of D-Day, American paratroopers drop behind enemy lines to penetrate the walls of a fortified church and destroy a radio transmitter. As the soldiers approach their target, they soon begin to realize that there's more going on in the Nazi-occupied village than a simple military operation. Making their way to an underground lab, outnumbered men stumble upon a sinister experiment that forces them into a vicious battle against an army of the undead.

Overlord is directed by Julius Avery and written by Mark L. Smith and Billy Ray. Supposedly, it was originally intended to tie into Cloverfield and the corresponding anthology, but alas, Overlord is not another Cloverfield movie. It's actually a fairly grounded, gruesome war flick preceding the Normandy Invasion once the supernatural elements are removed. Though Overlord is set during World War II and features zombies created by Nazi experimentation, I feel I should inform you that it's not quite the cinematic equivalent of the Nazi Zombies game mode from Call of Duty. The zombies were more of a mysterious obstacle sprinkled into the story as opposed to being the primary plot focus. This is a war film first, and a grindhouse-styled B-movie second. Overlord happens to be at its best whenever the genres overlap. 

Easing audiences into the supernatural, Overlord takes its time to unleash its undead entities and instead first focuses on setting the stage for all the insanity to come. Viewers are dropped right into the action as planes full of paratroopers fly over Normandy. Things quickly go awry, but Overlord's seemingly no different than the war movies audiences have grown accustomed to. The characters are painted in broad strokes, but manage to be no less endearing. While their personalities were rather simple, the characters were likable enough for me to at least become invested in their survival. Beyond that, the cast is chocked full of cinematic soldier stereotypes, for better or for worse. 

Otherwise, Overlord proved itself to be more gory and suspenseful than I could have ever imagined, boasting creature effects so excellent that the make-up, prosthetics, and visual effects work was all indistinguishable. Other elements I appreciated included the cinematography from Laurie Rose and Fabian Wagner as well as Jed Kurzel's score.

The ensemble cast of up-and-coming acting talent also demonstrate substantial range in a plethora of physically and emotionally-exhaustive roles. Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, John Magaro, Iain De Caestecker, Mathilde Ollivier, and Pilou Asbæk each elevate simplistic material to portray larger-than-life personalities befitting of an exploitation flick.

At the end of the day, Overlord wasn't exactly what I expected it to be, but I enjoyed it in all its grindhouse glory. If you're interested in World War II, zombies, or all of the above, you can't afford to Nazi Overlord in theaters.

Film Assessment: B+

'Ghost in the Shell' (2017) Review

Ghost in the Shell is the live action translation of the 1995 anime Ghost in the Shell depicting a futuristic society where humans enhance themselves with cybernetics. Major Motoko Kusanagi is the first of her kind with a human soul (a ghost) inside a synthetic body (a shell) working alongside Sector Nine, a tactical cyber-cop unit, to bring down the heinous hactivist Kuze. In her pursuit of Kuze, Major begins to uncover hints of her past life leading her to seek out her own individuality and the truth about what happened to her. 

Ghost in the Shell is directed by visionary director Rupert Sanders, who previously helmed Snow White and the Huntsman, and stars Scarlett Johansson. From that prognosis, parallels to Lucy are clear (Visionary director Luc Besson also teamed with Scar-Jo) and it's not too difficult to see why I had concerns walking into Ghost in the Shell minding I felt Lucy was a mess. On top of those concerns, Ghost in the Shell trails an abysmal live action anime adaptation streak akin to the failed video game movies of late and drew plenty of criticism for it's casting of Scarlett Johansson in the role of Major. 

This year's movie releases happened to be composed of quite a few controversial commercial blockbusters such as Beauty and the Beast (2017) and Power Rangers for their inclusion of gay characters and Ghost in the Shell falls in line with February's The Great Wall for their respective whitewashing controversies (casting a Caucasian actor/actress in a lead role many believed should be reserved for other ethnic talent). Whereas the casting of Matt Damon in The Great Wall wasn't technically whitewashing, Scarlett Johansson's casting as Major does qualify in my eyes considering the Major traditionally resembles a Japanese woman in the anime and manga. However, Johansson bodes well in the role and when you take into account that Major's a cyborg and not a human being, designating an ethnicity to a robot almost seems silly and contrived. Therefore, you may notice that the critical consensus on Ghost in the Shell is quite divisive (currently standing at a 46% on Rotten Tomatoes) and plenty of comparisons are being drawn to the original. While this was inevitable and is almost always the case for any reimagining of something people hold dear (just look at what happened to Ghostbusters last year), I feel some of the criticism was a bit much. 

One unfair criticism is that Ghost in the Shell didn't break new ground and seems to borrow too heavily from other science fiction like The Matrix when the 1995 anime adaptation was actually a massive source of inspiration to the Wachowskis when making The Matrix... On that note, any hoping to see a beat-for-beat retread of the anime will be MAJOR-ly disappointed as Ghost in the Shell takes many liberties with the source material. It does however pay homage to the anime by tying in familiar story beats and occasionally recreating the classic action sequences frame-by-frame. 

Director Rupert Sanders, cinematographer Jess Hall, and the vfx team go above and beyond in terms of materializing the anime aesthetic while adding new depth to the visual plane. If there's one aspect of Ghost in the Shell that's undeniably grandiose, it would be the visuals. The images are absolutely stunning and they're only enhanced by the awesome accompaniment. I didn't think it was possible but Lorne Balfe and Clint Mansell managed to compose an original score that feels true to Kenji Kawai's original ethereal sound while modernizing it to better fit this adaptation. This is probably one of the best film scores I've heard this year and cannot wait for it to drop on Spotify. 

Ghost in the Shell is certainly more entertaining than the original in terms of spectacle but in its commercialization, Ghost in the Shell succumbs to narrative contrivances. Jamie Moss, William Wheeler, and Ehren Kruger penned the screenplay, making a number of changes to the  story by fleshing out Major and her backstory and I applaud those changes for making Major an intuitive presence and not quite as distanced and robotic. However, Ghost in the Shell seeps into sci-fi storytelling clichés that handicap the film from stepping out of the original's shadow. 

Ghost in the Shell also features a relatively diverse cast, even with the white washing issue, who lend well to the source material for the most part. Scarlett Johansson captures a sweet spot between feeling either fully human or completely robotic and walks the line carefully in her portrayal of Major. Johansson's more than proven her worth as an action heroine elsewhere in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Black Widow but I feel she performed admirably here as well and I'd love to see her return in a sequel, it probably won't happen though considering the pitiful box office performance last weekend. 

Supporting players Pilou Asbæk and Takeshi Kitano standout among the Sector Nine agency while Juliette Binoche and Peter Ferdinando feel relegated to cliché characterization among the narrative changes. Michael Pitt however makes for an interesting antagonist that's relatively unpredictable in nature, especially if you're expecting things to turn out exactly as they do in the anime. 

In conclusion, I feel this is well worth your time if the trailers peaked your interest and can certainly advise fans of the anime to check it out but anyone already up in arms over the Scar-Jo casting probably won't be swayed. I'll add that I enjoyed the film considerably more than I was expecting to and feel this film lends itself well to a cinematic experience so if you're gonna see it, then you should it in theaters. Ultimately, Ghost in the Shell effectively translates the iconic imagery and ornate sounds of the influential anime but suffers from shallower storytelling resulting in a more entertaining adaptation that doesn't quite grasp the philosophical themes of the original. 

Film Assessment: B-