‘Onslaught’ movie review: Adria Arjona powers this lean, mean fighting machine

After yesterday’s heavy-duty nostalgia thanks to The Magic Faraway Tree, here comes another film reminding one of a no-frills actioner from the ‘80s. The fact that instead of a muscled, testosterone-driven protagonist, we have a sharp-shooting woman as the lead in Adam Wingard’s Onslaught, keeps things interesting.

There are super soldiers, a mad scientist doing all sorts of dreadful experiments while in thrall to his wife, a blond assassin, and a sniper with PTSD in this lean, action-packed film.

Celeste (Andor’s Adria Arjona) lives in a trailer park on the edge of the desert in New Mexico. She was a sniper in the Army and when we first meet her she is practicing shooting at a line of jack-o’-lanterns perched on a fence. She has some trouble steadying her hand as she is visited by flashbacks of combat in an arid area against a graffiti-strewn wall.

We then move to the sterile quarters of Dr. Hans Kammler (Dan Stevens) as he has breakfast with his wife, Hanna (Rebecca Hall). A chopper comes to take Hans to a secret military facility where he is developing genetically enhanced super soldiers who are programmed to keep killing until no one is left alive.

The soldiers were all terrible people when they were alive and after they died have been commandeered by the good doctor for his gruesome experiments. The trial naturally goes terribly wrong and suddenly the three killing machines are running loose shooting up gas stations before heading for the trailer park.

The movie does not explain exactly why the soldiers go rogue because according to Hans they shut down once everyone is killed. Celeste’s ex-husband has some urgent business to attend to and drops off their daughter, Daisy (Blake Kennedy) with her even though it is not her weekend with Daisy. The composed little girl immediately puts on a soothing podcast and starts doing the dishes that are piled high in the sink even as her parents quarrel.

A still from ‘Onslaught’
| Photo Credit:
A24

And then the seemingly unstoppable soldiers attack the trailer park and all hell breaks loose. Hot on the heels of the soldiers is a blond and beautiful black ops clean-up man, Cyrus (Drew Starkey) who is told to protect the “work”.

Onslaught has the economy of an ‘80s action movie, featuring masked, remorseless killers with glittering eyes riding a huge rig reminiscent of early James Cameron films and so it is no surprise to see Michael Biehn (Kyle Reese from The Terminator) popping up as another shady government official. Celeste’s rough and ready bandana to keep the blood out of her eyes does remind one of Rambo.

Stevens has the maximum fun as the completely cowed doctor while Arjona gives a spirited performance as the mama bear who will do anything to protect her cub. Director Adam Wingard and his long-time collaborator, Simon Barrett have fashioned a spare, superfast movie, that is definitely not short on blood-thirsty, charged action sequences.  

After directing two Godzilla blockbusters, Wingard has been quoted as saying, “I felt like I needed to do a story that solidified what my style was as a filmmaker, and this is it,” and it is a wholly welcome change as is Karel Gott’s German cover of The Rolling Stones’ ‘Paint It, Black’.

Onslaught is currently running in theatres