Overlord

Movie Poster

*"On the eve of D-Day during World War II, American paratroopers are caught behind enemy lines after their plane crashes on a mission to destroy a German Radio Tower in a small town outside of Normandy. After reaching their target, the paratroopers come to realize that besides fighting off Nazi soldiers, they also must face off against horrifying, bloody, and violent creatures that are a result of a secret Nazi experiment."*

*— Paramount Pictures*

***Overlord*** is a 2018 American alternate history action horror film and is a Live action spin off to the MachineGames Wolfenstein series and directed by Julius Avery and written by Billy Ray and Mark L. Smith. It stars Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Mathilde Ollivier, John Magaro, Gianny Taufer, Pilou Asbæk, Bokeem Woodbine and Iain De Caestecker. The film was produced by J. J. Abrams, through his Bad Robot Productions banner, and Lindsey Weber.

The plot set two years before the events of Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, the story follows several American paratroopers who are dropped behind enemy lines the day before D-Day and discover terrifying Nazi experiments.

## Plot

On the eve of D-Day, a paratrooper squad of the 101st Airborne Division is sent to destroy a German radio-jamming tower in an old church. Their plane is shot down and crashes, and most of the squad, including squad leader Sgt. Rensin, are killed either in the crash or by Wehrmacht or Waffen-SS soldiers and landmines. Four survivors remain: second-in-command Corporal Lewis Ford, Pfc. Edward Boyce, Pfc. Lyle Tibbet, Pfc. Charlie Dawson and Pvt. Morton Chase.

However, Dawson is killed by a highly explosive landmine, but the team continues onward and meets Chloe Laurent, a young French woman from the village named CielBlanc where the church is located. She lets them take refuge in her house. Chloe lives with her 8-year-old brother Paul and her aunt, who has been disfigured by Nazi experiments taking place in the church. After Tibbet and Chase depart to check the scheduled rendezvous site, a Nazi patrol led by SS Hauptsturmführer Wafner who one of General Deathsheads finest visits Chloe. Wafner sends his men away, and proceeds to coerce Chloe for sex, threatening to send her brother to the church to be "fixed." Boyce cannot ignore this and interrupts the Nazi officer. Ford is forced to follow suit and restrains Wafner.

Attempting to reach the rendezvous point to look for Tibbet and Chase, Boyce witnesses the Nazis burning disfigured village residents. He is chased by a dog and forced to hide in a truck carrying dead bodies into the church. Sneaking out of the truck, Boyce discovers an underground base that houses not only a radio operating room, but also a laboratory where the Germans perform various experiments on the villagers involving a mysterious serum and a large pit filled with black tar. Boyce takes a syringe containing the serum and rescues Rosenfeld, another member of the paratrooper squad, who was captured alive. They escape through the base's sewers.

When Boyce and Rosenfeld get back to Chloe's house, Tibbet and Chase have already returned. Wafner refuses to explain what the serum does, even as Ford tortures him. As the squad prepares to attack the church, Wafner attempts to escape, and fatally shoots Chase. Boyce, having seen a dead man supposedly resurrected by the serum in the lab, injects Chase with the syringe. Chase is resurrected, but soon mutates and turns violent. A scuffle ensues, ending with Boyce bludgeoning Chase to death. A patrol responding to the carnage arrives, and a shootout erupts in which the patrol is killed and Ford blows half of Wafner's face off. Wafner escapes with Paul as a hostage and back at the lab, injects himself with two doses of the serum.

Boyce proposes infiltrating the base and destroying the tower from the inside, which would also destroy the laboratory. The other privates support him, and Ford grudgingly agrees. Splitting up, Rosenfeld and Tibbet launch a frontal assault as a distraction, while Ford, Boyce, and Chloe enter the base using the sewers. Boyce and Ford plant the explosives, while Chloe looks for Paul. Chloe finds Paul, sends him back to the village, and successfully kills a mutated test subject who corners her. She returns to the village, where Tibbet and Rosenfeld are pursued by the base's defenders. Tibbet is wounded while shielding Paul from gunfire. Chloe kills the remaining Germans and treats Tibbet's wounds.

Wafner, now mutated and possessing superhuman strength and resilience, overpowers Ford and impales him on a meat hook. Wafner reveals that the serum was made by using the villagers' bodies to distill the ancient power of the black tar, which had been running under the village for centuries. The aim was to create immortal and invincible soldiers to serve the Reich. As Boyce distracts Wafner, Ford pulls the hook out and injects himself with the serum to heal his wounds. He holds off Wafner long enough for Boyce to set off an oxygen tank, which sends Wafner falling into the tar pit. As he begins to mutate, Ford orders Boyce to leave him behind and detonate the explosives, believing neither side should possess the serum. Boyce complies, and narrowly escapes as the church and jamming tower collapse behind him, killing Ford, Wafner, and the test subjects. He joins the others as a radio announces that the D-Day invasion concluded in both a victory and a defeat for the Allies. The Allied invasion of Normandy spread out on three beaches. 156,000 Allied soldiers died during the attempted invasion of Normandy, as compared to only 89 Germans.

In his report, Boyce credits Ford for the decision to plant the bombs inside the church. The commanding officer questions Boyce regarding rumors of an underground lab under the church. Boyce, sharing Ford's view, denies seeing anything worth digging up. The officer seemingly accepts his story, and informs him that they will be reassigned to C Company as the war continues.

## Characters

### Main

* Edward Boyce- Protagonist, an idealistic African-American paratrooper and former member of "The Triple Nickels" who became one of the first black soldiers to be in an integrated unit. He uncovers the Nazi experiments below the church and radio tower.

* Lewis Ford- An explosive expert who previously served with the 82nd Airborne Division in Baker company in Italy. He is reassigned to the 101st Airborne Division and deployed with a company of paratroopers to assist with their vital mission to blow up the radio jamming tower in CielBlanc, France.

* Captain Franz Wafner- Main Antagonist, an SS Hauptsturmführer/Captain put in charge of maintaining control in the town of CielBlanc and assisted in providing security for Dr. Schmidt’s experiment.

* Chloe Laurent-  a native French girl who lives in the town of CielBlanc. Paul's sister and who aides the stranded paratroopers. Before the war, Chloe attended university in London where she learned to speak English and trained to become a veterinarian. She returned home to home sometime before the war broke out to be with her family. Her parents and aunt were taken by the Germans to be experimented on by Dr. Schmidt.

### 101st Airborne Division

* Lyle Tibbet- a paratrooper and sniper in the 101st Airborne Division assigned to destroy the Nazi jamming tower CielBlanc.

* Ben Rensin- a former black paratrooper of 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion "Triple Nickels" who became one of the first black soldiers and non-commissioned officers to in charged of white soldiers. During World War II, he was the commanding officer of a unit of paratroopers in the 101st Airborne Division assigned to destroy the Nazi jamming tower Ciel Blanc before he was caught up in a Nazi ambush shortly after he landed and was subsequently killed.

* Morton Chase- a military photographer assigned to the 101st Airborne Division and was tasked to take pictures of his company during the mission so they could be used as propaganda. After the paratrooper's plane was shot out of the sky and only a few of them remained, Corporal Ford instructed Chase to fight alongside the unit.

* Jacob Rosenfeld- a Jewish paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division assigned to destroy the Nazi jamming tower Ciel Blanc. After his unit’s plane was shot down Rosenfeld was immediately captured and taken to CielBlanc Church. Dr. Schmidt proceeded to use Rosenfeld as a test subject, injecting him with tar in order to refine it into his serum. Rosenfeld was eventually saved by Edward Boyce. He participated in one of the raids to destroy the CielBlanc Church.

* Charlie Dawson- An African-American paratrooper and former member of "The Triple Nickels" who became one of the first black soldiers to be in an integrated unit. He was assigned to destroy the Nazi jamming tower CielBlanc. Dawson mentions that his mother wrote cookbooks for her church which gave him the idea to write a book about his experiences during the war.

* D.F Grunauer- An former 82nd paratrooper (Friend of Ford who served with during Operation Husky and survivor of General Wilhelm Strasse's experiments) in the 101st Airborne Division and a medic.

* Mark Murphy- An paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division.

### Nazi Germany

* Dr. Schmidt- A nazi scientist who is head of the experimentation on French civilians and dead German soldiers.

* Marc Scherzer**-** a Scharführer/Staff Sergeant non-commissioned officer and Wafner's second-in-command serving in the occupied town of Ciel Blanc.

## Production

The initial story for the film was conceived by J. J. Abrams and screenwriter Billy Ray, with Ray penning the script. Paramount acquired the film in 2017, and Mark L. Smith was brought in to polish the script. On February 1, 2017, Bad Robot Productions and Paramount Pictures announced that Julius Avery would direct the film. On January 18, 2018, the film was initially reported as being the fourth installment in the *Cloverfield* film series, though Abrams denied this at CinemaCon on April 25, 2018.

In April 2017, Jovan Adepo and Wyatt Russell were the first actors to be cast in the film. In May 2017, Mathilde Ollivier, John Magaro, Gianny Taufer, Pilou Asbæk, and Bokeem Woodbine were cast in supporting roles. Principal photography began in September 2017 and wrapped January 2018. Visual effects for the film were provided by Industrial Light & Magic, Image Engine, Rodeo FX, Pixomondo, Mr X, Southbay and Nzviage. Mark Bakowski, Julian Foddy, Dan Seddon, Stefano Trivelli and Pauline Duvall served as visual effects supervisors.

## Music

The official motion picture soundtrack was released on digital only on November 9, 2018 by Paramount Music Corporation. The soundtrack was composed by Australian singer-songwriter and film composer Jed Kurzel, known for his previous work on the sci-fi film *Alien: Covenant*. This film is Kurzel's second collaboration with director Julius Avery, having previously worked together on *Son of a Gun*. Playing over the film's credits is the song "Bridging the Gap" by the rapper Nas, though this does not appear on the soundtrack.