Onslaught - Movie Review

The Movie: Onslaught

The Director: Adam Wingard

The Cast: Adria Arjona, Dan Stevens, Eric Wareheim, Reginald VelJohnson, Michael Biehn, Alex Pereira with Drew Starkey and Rebecca Hall

The Story: When a rogue squad of genetically engineered super soldiers break loose in the desert, a badass Army sniper must unleash hell to protect her young daughter.

The Rating: 6 / 10

The Review:

I love the idea of this movie. I love the director of this movie. I love the cast of this movie. I love a lot of things about this movie. I didn't love watching the movie. The whole thing felt incomplete and I was really surprised when the movie ended. It's so open ended, it's blatantly a part one of what I'm assuming  Adam Wingard intends to be a series of films. If he does continue, I really hope he's able to make a more complete movie instead of what ended up feeling like a season premiere of a TV series.

Wingard's signature filmmaking style, which is best exemplified in The Guest and You're Next, makes a glorious return in this movie which is a nice return to form after his Monsterverse movies, Godzilla vs. Kong and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Don't get me wrong, those are great movies that I really enjoyed but they're more special effects driven blockbuster type films instead of those super fun, ultra stylized movies that first put him on the map. Even with all its faults, Onslaught is really fun and the vibes are definitely there.

The movies run time clocks in at just over 90 minutes including credits which I feel is normally the sweet spot for this type of genre movie although, in this case, I would have liked to have seen a bit more. As I mentioned, the ending was very abrupt and it doesn't feel like an ending at all and a little reworking could have not only made it more impactful but it could also have given it a more solid ending while still leaving things open for the future. As it is, the ending feels like the boss battle hasn't happened yet and then all of a sudden, it's over.

Speaking of battles, the action is intense and brutal and there's so much blood that one character has a problem staying on his feet because the floor is so soaked. The genetically enhanced soldiers are pretty badass and I know people are really hoping that this is a direct crossover with Dan Stevens' character in The Guest and, while he does play a character in the movie, it's someone completely different. Still, that doesn't mean that the two movies don't exist in the same universe, I just think we'll have to wait for another movie to see any kind of direct connection if there's ever going to be one.

One thing I can safely say because Wingard himself has talked about it is the inclusing of KPG, a fictional corporation that shows up in this movie, The Guest, You're Next, and even his segment in 2013's V/H/S 2. Wingard has also stated that Onslaught is a conclusion to what he refers to as a trilogy which actually confuses things a bit since the movie is so open ended. For me, that just adds to all the issues I have with the story. On some levels, this is a really fun, grindhouse style splatterfest but so much of it makes no sense and it ends up falling flat by the time it's all finished.

The last thing I'll mention is that Adria Arjona, if you watched Andor you know how amazing she can be, is pretty fantastic in this movie and I need to see more of her as this character. Maybe not though since I'm assuming most of her time is now going to be tied up as she takes on the role of Wonder Woman in James Gunn's DC universe. As much as I want to see a sequel to this movie, the odds seem to be stacked against it. Oh well. Thank you for reading this review.