Onslaught
Former Army sniper and single mother Celeste (Adria Arjona, "Hit Man") is dealing with PTSD in a remote New Mexican desert trailer park community when three super soldiers genetically engineered by a mad Nazi scientist escape a nearby government facility. Celeste is about to face an "Onslaught."
Laura's Review: B
Now who doesn't want to see Dan Stevens (TV's 'Downton Abbey,' "The Guest") as a Nazi wearing a bald cap and blown out eye who crawls across his kitchen floor to lick the toeless, stiletto heeled pump clad feet of his wife played by Rebecca Hall (Wingard's "Godzilla vs. Kong")? And who listens to a German language version of 'Paint It Black' while a Blackhawk spirits him, blindfolded, to the facility where he conducts his dastardly experiments? And they aren't even the only depraved Germans featured in director Adam Wingard's, who shares a 'story by' credit with his "You're Next" and "The Guest" screenwriter Simon Barrett, latest, an ultra violent actioner with Arjona as one fierce momma bear.
She's the woman who is shooting Jack 'o Lanterns off of fence posts with automatic weapons at 7:04 a.m. before returning to her job and residence at Windy Oasis trailer park, where she uneasily notes the presence of the Blackhawks to Vietnam vet Josiah (Reginald VelJohnson, "Die Hard") while trying to fix a generator. He suggests she make a trip for some wire at the truck stop where she can also pick him up a pack of smokes, something which becomes more imperative when her ex arrives unexpectedly to drop off her young daughter Daisy (Blake Kennedy) when she only has a can of garbanzo beans in her kitchen.
Meanwhile, over at that secret government facility, Dr. Kammler (Stevens) is ignoring Inger's (Sarah Minnich) warnings that their super soldiers are nowhere near reading for the test he wants to run for government contractor Baylor (Michael Biehn, "The Terminator," "Aliens"), but she is ignored as The Crybaby (stuntman Tyler Hall), The Cockroach (Dave Campbell) and The Butcher (Brazilian Mixed Martial Artist Alex Pereira), formerly deceased soldiers with very controversial backgrounds, are released into poison gas to pick off a dozen or so live military men. Even Baylor recoils in shock, but when one of the super soldiers goes into cardiac arrest, Kammler and Inger rush in, expanding the mass slaughter and giving their creations access to the outside world. They'll first be seen standing in the distance outside Buck's Full Stop by Daisy while Celeste is inside buying wire, cigarettes and microwavable burritos, but she fails to say anything. A red alert system has engaged clean-up op agent Cyrus (Drew Starkey, "Love, Simon," TV's 'Outer Banks'), a bit perturbed to be called away from his planned evening of S&M recreation right after having taken party drugs he claims will not affect his performance.
Crybaby, Cockroach and the Butcher, armed with an automatic weapon, a chainsaw and a cleaver, turn Buck's Full Stop into such a bloodbath Cyrus will slide about in the gore. They also commandeered a semi and head straight for Windy Oasis.
After setting up Celeste as a woman with an arsenal, the filmmakers quickly make that inaccessible when a super soldier chainsaws his way into her trailer, forcing her and her daughter to flee to Josiah's, who is armed but low on bullets. The Windy Oasis community, briefly introduced earlier, is quickly decimated, forcing these three to rely on local cop Kovacks (Eric Wareheim, "Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie"), who'd rather it be Celeste who tries to make it to his squad car. The violence is extreme, but those super soldiers, who Kammler described as unable to feel pain and able to control their heart rates and contract their muscles to shield against bullets, are not indestructible. Unfortunately we'll learn Cyrus's team, on its way, may not have those up against them's best interests at heart.
"Onslaught" is a hoot and a half, its German language rock songs and Matthew Pusti's militaristic heavy metal score driving the action. Wingard and Barrett foreshadow Celeste's final showdown in flashbacks to the military experience which made her retreat to the desert. The mother daughter relationship is a bit strange, Daisy, who Celeste calls 'Baba,' referring to her mother very formally, entering her trailer and setting up a comfort station before tackling a sink full of pots and pans, an idiosyncratic detail in a bond which will grow more intimate under literal fire. Arjona stands apart from those flamboyant Nazis, a survivor whose combat instincts are hampered by her psychological wounds yet who manages to overcome them when her daughter's life is on the line. It's a very physical performance and Arjona makes us believe. VelJohnson, stuck in the cliched role of Black savior, nonetheless sketches out a character worth rooting for, adding some gentle humor along the way. Wareheim is also solid as the ineffective cop who rallies when shamed and the chips are down.
"Onslaught" wraps with what appear to be franchise hopes, laying the groundwork for another, somewhat different outing that sounds less exciting than the mayhem unleashed here. This one's a little scattershot (what's up with that countdown clock?), but it delivers what it promises.
A24 releases "Onslaught" in theaters on 9/4/26.
