Directed by Adam Wingard, Onslaught is a 2026 sci-fi/action/horror-ish movie written by Simon Barrett, and set in the same continuity as Wingard’s previous film, The Guest. Celeste Cross (Adria Arjona) a former soldier, manages a trailer park in the New Mexico desert, including tenants Josiah (Reginald VelJohnson) and Kovacks (Erin Wareheim), and is surprised when she unexpectedly has to take care of her daughter, Daisy (Blake Kennedy). Unknown to her, a trio of super soldiers break free from a nearby military research base and head right toward her location with one objective: kill everything in their way.
+ visually, the soldiers were cool. Their red-dot eyes were not far removed from Sentry, from the relatively recent Thunderbolts*, which is something I always think stands out. They are a striking trio to look at, albeit only one really gets any characterisation
+ one side character seems to solely exist to showcase some scantily-clad dominatrices at the beginning of the film. It was very much appreciated, but hardly necessary
– this movie was boring as sin. For a film about a trio of bloodthirsty super soldiers, I never once thought they were any threat to our main character (or characters, depending on how you look at it). They don’t do anything cool, they never come across as particularly dangerous, and there was no real mind-blowing or movie-stealing gore or action scenes
– I did not care for any of the characters; there is a difference between main characters who are unlikeable, and characters who the audience should dislike. And frankly, I think Celeste came across as both. The only character I cared for was one of the trailer-park tenants, Josiah, and I wish the movie was about him instead
Should you see this film: This movie was really bad, and it hurts me to say that after how much I loved Adam Wingard’s previous films. If this was a horror movie, it was not scary; if this was an action movie, it was not exciting; if this was a sci-fi movie, it was too basic. Just rewatch The Guest (2014) and you’ll have a far better time.
