FILM REVIEW OF ''NAZI OVERLORD" (2018)

Abysmal best describes "Nazi Overlord," (* OUT OF ****) another of the Asylum's dreadful knockoff movies that desperately lacks humor. This 91-minute, straight-to-video release amounts to a particularly pale imitation of J.J. Abrams' "Overlord," with Jovan Adepo and Wyatt Russell. Naturally, the two pictures share obvious similarities. Each occurs during the historic D-Day landings at Normandy, France, in 1944. Technically, you can classify this World War II movie a secret mission deep in enemy country. Here, an Army Unit is ordered to Romania to bring back a rogue Allied female scientist who has been collaborating with the Nazis. You can also classify "Nazi Overlord" as bare-bones, low-budget, and it looks as if "Fortune Cookie" director Rob Pallatina lensed this movie with a camcorder. An animated graphic displays the fast progress of our heroes make across Europe to their destination. This was transitional device is acceptable because some American, World War II movies used similar transitions. The next time we see them, they are cruising around in a half-track, personnel carrier. This is a far cry from where things started. For a couple of minutes at the beginning, "Nazi Overlord" shows American G.I.s tangling face-to-face with German soldiers on the beach. Undoubtedly, this ranks as the strongest scene in this woebegone World War II travesty. Soldiers start out wielding rifles and pistols, but wind up killing each other with their bare hands, down and dirty, with savage rage. Sadly, for a moment, this knock-off captured the pugnacity of war.

Captain Rodgers (Andrew Liberty of "Sex Tax: Based on a True Story") survives the brutality on the beach, and General Forrester (Tom Sizemore of "Saving Private Ryan") assigns him to lead his unit, with some deserters to locate and bring back the scientist, Dr. Eris (Dominique Swain of "Face/Off"). Incidentally, Swain bares her booty in one scene and her breasts in another. Although she shows up only in the last third, her crazy scientist character breathes a modicum of fresh air into this stale saga. Rodgers confides in Forrester that he feels the least qualified to lead the mission. Nevertheless, the Colonel sends him ahead. After all, the best heroes are always the reluctant ones.

The clueless people that produced "Nazi Overlord" must have never seen an episode of television's "Combat." The American soldiers here stand in the open and make easy targets for Nazi snipers. The M1 rifles look bigger than some of the Americans. There is no sense of camaraderie among these fellows. Few of the characters on both sides make a lasting impression. Fortunately, whoever supplied the firearms knew the range of guns well. Nobody carried anything that wasn't period correct. However, the captain and the lieutenant run around with officer's insignia emblazoned on the front of their helmets. Officers never displayed rank insignia for fear that snipers might exploit this advantage. The dastardly Dr. Eris is working on a Biblical plague and uses locusts to spread it. Unlike "Overlord," none of the German soldiers turn into psychotic zombies. Dr. Eris gets the drop on Captain Rodgers, and they have to witness the atrocities that she performs on her human Guinea pigs. Neither knee-slapping nor disgusting, these scenes simply look idiotic with the victims spurting blood, eventually exploding, with locust swarming around them.

Monotonous from fade-in to fade out, "Nazi Overlord" earns a star for not making the egregrious error of showing an integrated, black & white Army Unit as in "Overlord." Tom Sizemore takes top billing, but he isn't around long. You see him at the outset when he recruits Captain Rodgers and then at the end when he escorts our hero to meet the President. The idea of creating a plague using locust struck me as trivial. The experiments were mediocre and the blood effects were bland. Beware of "Nazi Overlord."