7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
On the eve of D-Day, American paratroopers are dropped behind enemy lines to carry out a mission crucial to the invasion's success. But as they approach their target, they begin to realize there is more going on in this Nazi-occupied village than a simple military operation. They find themselves fighting against supernatural forces, part of a Nazi experiment.
Starring: Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Mathilde Ollivier, Pilou Asbæk, John MagaroHorror | 100% |
Action | 84% |
Sci-Fi | 80% |
War | 11% |
Mystery | 9% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
German: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Italian: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Japanese: Dolby Digital 5.1
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish España y Latinoamérica; Portuguese Brasil
English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The video game franchise Wolfenstein centers around a lone American hero named B.J. Blazkowicz whose sole purpose in life, it seems, is to not only rid the world of Nazis, but fight and put an end to their horrific experiments that have created grossly mutated creatures and an army of super soldiers. The franchise got its start on the PC back in the early 1980s, but it was 1992's Wolfenstein 3D that would truly propel the franchise forward and reinvent the video game landscape forever, a landmark release that ushered in the era of the first-person shooter. The franchise has recently enjoyed a critically acclaimed rebirth that continues to put players in control of Blazkowicz, fighting the same battles with more detailed plots and characterizations and, of course, all of the modern gaming horsepower transforming his enemies from digital sprites to fully realized characters and the environments from spartan layouts to complex worlds. Mention of the game series is practically unavoidable when discussing Director Julius Avery's (Son of a Gun) Overlord, a movie awash in the Wolfenstein spirit that focuses on American soldiers who face off against Nazi mutants in one of the most bloody and pulpy World War II films ever made.
Overlord was shot digitally which doesn't quite find the vintage, grainy, filmic look that might have better enhanced the movie's tone and style. It is nevertheless a pleasantly dense and highly agreeable image. Noise is present to some degree in many scenes, with much of the film playing out in lower light interiors and nighttime exteriors. Textures are consistently strong, with high-yield detailing to be found on well-worn military uniforms, stone buildings, rubble, and certainly in the bowels of the Nazi laboratory where equipment, mutated body parts, and grimy surfaces create an eerie Re-Animator kind of visual vibe. Of course, one of the highlights is the visibility of various wounds and gore which, particularly in the third act, reveal an incredible amount of both practical and digital detail that ups the visual ante, critical components that the Blu-ray highlights with stomach-churning clarity. Colors are generally drab in the lower light and nighttime shots as well as throughout the dreary underground lab. Fiery explosions and plenty of red blood are highlights, with a number of smaller color details impressing as the visual construction allows. Black levels, so critical to supporting the film, are generally fine if not falling slightly towards the "raised" end of the spectrum. Flesh tones appear unproblematic. Source and compression issues are next to nonexistent. This is a first-rate transfer from Paramount.
Overlord's Dolby Atmos soundtrack can be summarized in a single word: bonkers. The track is a delight of sonic mayhem, stage expansion and extension, potent bass, and intensely and insanely fun full-stage saturation. Every action scene is a delight, cranking up the sonic mayhem and making full use of every speaker in the configuration, including the subwoofer, to paint a chaotic picture of wartime insanity. Right from the outset on the plane full of paratroopers, the track struts its stuff, which includes engine hum and interior rattle and eventually features bullets ripping through the plane's bottom half, explosions popping all around the aircraft, screaming men, all variety of wartime chaos that the track introduces and executes with startling precision, placement, and clarity. Such holds true for every shootout throughout the film and particularly in the film's climactic action scene. Every inch of the stage is filled with perfectly defined and carefully placed sound details that instantly and fully draw the listener into the battles and environments, where every shot, scream, crash, bang, and bullet slam find their proper, harmoniously balanced place. Overhead speakers are mostly folded in rather than discretely used, though some loudspeaker announcements do offer some nice and obviously positioned overhead usage. "Reserved" is not in this track's vocabulary, though lighter support effects do help better define various scenes when the action isn't front-and-center. Musical clarity and stage saturation are terrific and dialogue is clear and detailed from its natural front-center position. This is a reference quality track from start to finish.
Overlord's Blu-ray release contains a single extra titled The Horrors of War that branches down into six featurettes which are outlined
below. A DVD copy
of the film and an iTunes digital copy code are included with purchase. This release ships with a non-embossed slipcover.
Overlord offers amplified World War II mayhem built for entertainment, not historical record. The picture stutters through a relatively slow-paced second act but offers a terrifyingly dense, intense, and bloody open and a gloriously gruesome finale. Much of the film is stock, relying on the chaos, violence, viscera, and relative novelty of it all, not character depth or narrative purpose, to draw audiences. The film is fine in that context. It would have been better with tighter editing and a little more balance between traditional War movie stylings and comic book absurdity, but it's still a fun time at the gory movies. Paramount's Blu-ray delivers solid 1080p video, a reference quality Atmos track, and a few extras. Recommended.
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