J.J. Abrams’ new “Overlord” delivers an explosive mash-up between a sensitive World War II story and a ruthless splatterfest fit to send anyone running home to their mama.

The plot follows four paratroopers on the eve of D-Day as they must take down a radio tower in the middle of a French village occupied by Nazis. Little to the knowledge of our Star-Spangled boys, German scientists in the village are concocting serums that turn your average man into a seemingly invulnerable zombie that can throw a 200-pound man like a Frisbee.

Fortunately, however, hordes of these God-like monsters never come tearing toward our heroes like how they might in a cheap Vin Diesel or Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson action flick. Instead, whenever one does come out to spice up the action, they are treated as a real and serious threat that adds to the already entertaining shootouts between American and Nazi soldiers.

Yet despite the fire and blood, the main cast performed their roles quite well. Private Boyce (played by an optimistic Jovan Adepo), the film’s protagonist and one of the four paratroopers, is a naive teenager just old enough to be conscripted by the army. As Boyce, Adepo perfectly captures the fear of anyone tossed into a hopeless situation that may or may not involve super zombies.

A French villager named Chloe, played by Mathilde Ollivier, supports Boyce and company as they infiltrate the village’s Nazi base. Ollivier’s character is determined to free her village of the Nazi’s grasp, going so far as to single-handedly destroy a zombie with a flamethrower.

But Chloe was not an interesting character just because of her iron will; her French accent was simply flawless. Many current films that portray any English-speaking Europeans cop out into just using an English accent (I’m looking at you, Disney). The change of pace here was not only noticeable but very much appreciated. 

Along with Ollivier’s clean accent, another nice touch that director Julius Avery brings to “Overlord” is real German speakers, the most noticeable being Nazi commander Wafner (the antagonist himself!). Dauntingly played by Pilou Asbæk, Wafner switches between English and German depending on whom he is talking to, but he always maintains a strong German accent.

Something I found interesting about the screenplay (written by Billy Ray and Mark Smith) was the similarities between Wafner and Boyce. Despite its simplicity, both begin not fully committed to their mission: Wafner starts out as a lazy and overzealous leader and (to stay spoiler free) takes a turn for the worst. As for Boyce, he’s constantly shaking in his boots for the first act of the film, but as the climax approaches, he becomes an unstoppable running machine.

But to be fair, if there were some super zombies on my tail, I’d be running too.