Onslaught will be released in theaters on September 4.
Onslaught is an apt title for Adam Wingard’s continuation of the world the director and co-writer Simon Barrett established early in their careers through You’re Next and The Guest, because it just never lets up. The platonic ideal of a “midnight movie,” Onslaught serves up heaping helpings of gruesome action, witty dialogue, Nazi experimentation, pro-veteran and anti-government sentiment, and three militarized Michael Myers figures hunting a community of unsuspecting trailer park residents. If all that sounds distasteful and exhausting to you, the rest of this review is not for you: you’re a lost cause and I invite you to go back to watching paint dry or whatever it is you do with your free time. For those with a taste for debaucherous mayhem in your cinema, pure and crazy… Onslaught, baby!
Over 92 rocket-powered minutes, Onslaught follows the classic “survive the night” story structure with a simple premise which Wingard imbues with all manner of schlocky adornment. At base level, Onslaught is about a trio of super-soldier experimentation subjects programmed to kill anyone in their path escaping containment and fulfilling their purpose in the desert community of Moriarty, New Mexico – the very same town at the heart of 2014’s The Guest. Onslaught finds a no-bullshit hero in Celeste (Adria Arjona), a veteran sniper struggling with PTSD and motherhood as she seeks peace at the Windy Oasis Trailer Park, where most of the movie’s back-half takes place. Celeste is quick to anger, but at least adept at directing those feelings in a constructive direction once the super-soldiers lay siege to her home. Across quiet character moments and very loud, raging action beats, Arjona carries the movie beautifully and it’s consistently fun watching her settle so easily into the action hero persona. Sarah Connor would be very proud.
With their painted faces, tactical gear and glowing eyes, the imposing trio driving Onslaught’s anarchy look like bosses that walked right out of Call of Duty’s Zombies mode. Even though they have cool codenames – The Crybaby, The Cockroach, The Butcher – there’s no discernable or relevant differences between the three once things go off the deep end. Since the action taking place at the trailer park is so narrowly focused, this is of little detriment to Onslaught, giving the characters multiple tough-to-beat foes to have to work their way through and allowing Wingard to stage cat-and-mouse games that start off especially chaotic when the trio is at full strength, and become more dread-inducing as the odds start to shift away from the trio of elite soldiers. Wingard does overplay his hand late in the game by attempting to use one of the super-soldiers as a thematic exclamation point long after Onslaught needs any more depths to plumb. Stevens is always at his most interesting playing weirdos, and here, he swings for the campy fences and knocks one out of the park. “It’s the fringes of Onslaught’s idiosyncratic world that really make you lean forward. Wingard’s The Guest and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire collaborator Dan Stevens returns here as Dr. Kammler, a third-generation Nazi scientist with a penchant for white cloaks and being dominated by his wife, Frau Kammler (Rebecca Hall). Kammler can hardly contain his sensual glee at being on the precipice of delivering the Übermensch through his experimentations at a secret government base not far from the trailer park. Stevens is always at his most interesting playing weirdos, and here, he swings for the campy fences and knocks one out of the park.
Verdict
Ain’t no two ways about it: Onslaught fuckin’ rips. Adam Wingard throws a collection of action and B-movie genre influences into a blender, pushes that concoction across the table, and encourages you to chug. Adria Arjona gets a well-deserved action hero moment, going up against a trio of very cool super-soldiers and a shadowy team of fascist freaks with the help of a great supporting cast. Down-and-dirty action, simple-yet-effective emotional stakes, and an unwavering commitment to fun and the rule of cool make Onslaught an easy recommendation.
