“A government by secrecy benefits no one. It injures the people it seeks to serve; it damages its own integrity and operation. It breeds distrust, dampens the fervor of its citizens and mocks their loyalty.” This quote by Democrat lawmaker Russell B. Long is a stark reminder that much of what happens in governments around the world is done behind closed doors. Director Adam Wingard asks, “What if one of the government’s secrets went terribly wrong?” Onslaught’s answer can be summed up in one phrase: Anything that can go wrong will.
Army veteran Celeste (Adria Arjona) is an on-site manager for a trailer park. Her life is a never-ending cycle of dealing with the drama of all of the residents around her. Her daughter, Daisy (Blake Kennedy), normally lives with her dad, Griffin (Jacob Scipio), and her stepmom. When a business trip forces Griffin to drop Daisy off with her mom on short notice, Celeste finds herself unprepared for a day that will go from bad to worse.
Meanwhile, Dr. Hans Kammler (Dan Stevens) says goodbye to his wife, Hanna Kammler (Rebecca Hall), with a certain finality. Hans, with a handful of others, is ushered into a secret military compound blindfolded. Upon entering, Hans reviews his three test subjects and then meets with Baylor (Michael Biehn), a representative of the government agency funding this research.
Onslaught asks, “What if one of the government’s secrets went terribly wrong?”
The subjects, The Butcher (Alex Pereira), The Cockroach (Dave Campbell), and The Crybaby (Tyler Hall), are super-soldiers created from the most unhinged service members to die in the line of duty. When Kammler puts them to the test for Baylor, something goes terribly wrong, and now three secret and dangerous assets are on the loose. Their programming is simple: Kill anything and everything in your path.
When the ensuing massacre finds its way to Celeste’s trailer park, it’s up to her and fellow residents, Josiah (Reginald VelJohnson), and Kovacks (Eric Wareheim) to stop the spread of violence any farther and protect Daisy.
Cyrus (Drew Starkey), a government representative who answers to Hanna Kammler, follows the trail of blood, but he has his own orders. While initially it seemed as though his presence was for the purpose of stopping these deadly engineered soldiers, the government, or at least Hanna Kammler, has different ideas in mind for him.
Onslaught is a fantastic examination of the consequences of a secretive government.
The casting in Onslaught is just about perfect. Adria Arjona really sells that she’s not just some woman in a trailer park. She doesn’t merely play Celeste; she becomes Celeste. She’s a scrapper with something to prove. She’s wildly protective of her daughter but also of anyone else she cares about.
Reginald VelJohnson hasn’t appeared as such a formidable presence since his role as Sgt. Al Powell in Die Hard. Josiah, who Celeste regularly calls “old man,” is a force to be reckoned with and yet, one of the most humorous parts of Onslaught. While VelJohnson outclasses his costars’ talent by leaps and bounds, he never lets that make him feel like the unintended star of the movie.
The most surprising casting was British actor Dan Stevens as Dr. Hans Kammler. Stevens is probably best known for playing Matthew Crawley on Downton Abbey, but here, Hans is a German scientist with a thick accent. While Stevens plays the role with a certain amount of absurdity, it just works. There’s no reason that it should work, but he absolutely sells the mad scientist with deep German roots.
Onslaught uses the opportunity to flex its creative muscle to tackle some fairly heavy topics.
The score is kind of all over the place. Scenes with Kammler, the base, Cyrus, and heavy sci-fi connotations have an 80s synth vibe not unlike the original Tron. When the film centers more on the trailer park, there’s more of a rock/country vibe. Neither is inherently bad, but for a while, it feels like two very different movies being cut together until the storylines collide.
Onslaught is a fantastic examination of the consequences of a secretive government. While Celeste and Josiah’s former military service makes them especially sensitive to the inner workings of their government, everyone else in the film is taken aback by the sheer craziness of what’s happening around them.
Onslaught also uses the opportunity to flex its creative muscle to tackle some fairly heavy topics. Josiah notes on more than one occasion that military veterans are often the forgotten demographic. Celeste experiences flashbacks to her time as a sniper that speak to the common occurrence of veterans dealing with PTSD. While the message is loud and clear, it’s done in a way that never detracts from the unhinged acts of violence happening around them.
Even with all the amazing things happening in Onslaught, the film suffers from a few glaring issues.
Even with all the amazing things happening in Onslaught, the film suffers from a few glaring issues. The first is that despite the care it takes to honor the struggle veterans go through in their post-service life, Onslaught reduces life in a trailer park to its worst stereotypes. During the first act of the movie, Celeste asks nearly everyone she talks to about their late rent, and residents are seen at their worst possible moments before super-soldiers ever show up.
The result is a handful of scenes that attempt to elevate the street cred of Celeste and Josiah by portraying them as hardened veterans living among the worst parts of society. The worst thing it does is mentally evoke the words “trailer trash,” — which tonally feels at odds with itself.
The other hiccup in Onslaught concerns the super-soldiers. Over half of the movie sets them up as an unstoppable force, but the final battle scenes, while brutal, are over far too quickly. The film, which barely crosses the 90-minute threshold, wasted an opportunity to make these Dead By Daylight avatars an even more menacing foe than Onslaught presents.
Still, Onslaught is a terrific film for anyone just wanting a bloody good time. Yes, the most analytical of viewers may need to turn off their brains for this one, but for a movie that’s all about government secrets and unrelenting gore, perhaps it’s okay to trade in a brain for a tin foil hat and just enjoy the ride.
Onslaught is playing in theaters now.
Onslaught
8/10
TL;DR
Onslaught is a terrific film for anyone just wanting a bloody good time. Yes, the most analytical of viewers may need to turn off their brains for this one, but for a movie that’s all about government secrets and unrelenting gore, perhaps it’s okay to trade in a brain for a tin foil hat and just enjoy the ride.