By Matthew Moorcroft

Weak Recommendation

• Directed by Adam Wingard
• Starring Adria Arjona, Dan Stevens, Drew Starkey, Rebecca Hall
• R

There is very little you need to know before starting Onslaught. The no bullshit, all meat approach that Adam Wingard takes for his first original film since since 2016’s The Guest (of which this is technically a spiritual sequel to, both in universe and out of universe) basically tells you everything you need to know as early as the rollicking opening credits which connect Nazi Germany to the United States of America, super soldiers, and a pulse pounding score by Matt Putsi that threatens to blow out your eardrums. That’s the vibe of the whole picture here, which relies almost entirely on crackling visuals and “aura” to carry the picture to the finish line.

And sometimes that’s all you really need. When Onslaught works, it really works, with it’s grimey aesthetic that brings back the thoughts of low budget Carlaco pictures of the 80s and the reign of the action horror brought about by classics like John Carpenter’s Escape from New York. The smokey, foggy vibes of New Mexico of all places manage to evoke a mood that leans into the domestic horror of what is to come, and the film does not shy away from it’s more realistic, gnarlier violence. When these soldiers, enhanced to be the perfect killing machines, inevitably escape and cause chaos, their reign of terror isn’t glorified or given flashy effects. Instead, there is a lingering sense of dread and pure terror as they simply gun down those that stand in their wake. Third person video game style action that feels ripped out of Modern Warfare 2‘s infamous “No Russian” level moreso then anything else.

Where Onslaught ultimately doesn’t work is moreso in the details less the overt aesthetic of it’s presentation. Adria Arjona puts in solid work as our unexpected protagonist – a divorced veteran military sniper with massive amounts of PTSD and a drinking problem – and she’s given several moments to shine with not just guns and chainsaws but also looking cool with an eyepatch and covered in blood. But outside of that arguably star making performance for her, Onslaught mostly runs in circles trying to fill out it’s already short 92 minute runtime with padding and setup that mostly feels perfunctory. Scenes that would normally be a couple of minutes long are dragged out to much longer lengths, and while the shot design is engaging enough to help distract you in the moment there once you realize the film is basically two locations and a couple of characters it becomes difficult to unsee it. The back half of Onslaught then needs to do a lot of heavy lifting to make itself worth the wait in carnage, but outside of a gas station mowdown which is genuinely something else the film only halfway delivers on it’s promise.

Instead, Onslaught rotates between contained home invasion thriller, slasher pic, and high concept sci-fi without ever really choosing a singular focus. It’s clear that Wingard, having been in the IP mines for sometime, had a bunch of ideas on his mind for his next feature and smashed a bunch of them in this to try and get them out. And while the slasher vibes are really fun in bursts and Wingard’s condemnation of the military industrial complex is more scathing and direct then most (the film literalizes this by having our lead be a veteran fighting back against the soldiers complicit in her own agony), it’s mostly just hollow noise for what is otherwise a flick more interested in it’s own cool images and vibes.

The film does try to mitigate this somewhat by the addition of a subplot involving an investigator who may or may not have ties to the organization that caused all of this, but while his segments are fun and add some texture to the world beyond simply just what we see in the barebones trailer park, the way everything comes together leaves a lot to be desired. In fact, one would think the aftermath of the film would be the most interesting element of the picture, but it mostly just kind of stops in place and never really commits to it’s more nasty conclusion that it was likely hinting at.

This is a shame cause Onslaught has great ideas and several fun moments, and as a flick it certainly shows that Wingard’s talents are still visible. But the studio system is possible to have gotten to him, unable to formulate interesting characters here beyond simply “they look cool” or “posing for the camera” which, while certainly great trailer and background fodder, lacks much in depth. Hopefully this is just a stumbling block, but otherwise Onslaught is mostly just a brainless, if somewhat fun, time at the movies.