9/12 ForReel Score | 3.5/5 Stars

For the working filmmaker, earning carte blanche—the “blank check”—is like finding the Holy Grail. To quote Christoph Waltz’ Dr. King Schults, it’s like a reward. It’s wholehearted permission from whatever studio or backer for creatives to run wild with whatever ideas they see fit. All uncompromised in their scale and ambition, recent blank-check bangers include Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, Jordan Peele’s Nope, and pretty much every Christopher Nolan movie since The Dark Knight. After spending the last decade going from one director-for-hire job to another, Adam Wingard, best known for directing The Guest and the recent American “Monsterverse” films (Godzilla vs. Kong, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire), has rightfully earned his blank check with an absolutely gonzo action-slasher, Onslaught.

Set in an alternate reality where almost every violent event in American history is a direct result of Operation Paperclip, Onslaught wastes no time in getting down to brass tacks. Coasting at a bite-sized 92 minutes (including credits), Wingard fastballs every morsel of thematic meat within the film’s opening titles and subsequent 30 minutes, laying the sociopolitical groundwork as unsubtly as possible before going totally balls-to-the-wall. Between Kennedy’s assassination and the MKUltra experiments, Onslaught implies that all of these conspiracy-theory-worthy events are products of the U.S. government experimenting with super-soldier technology on its populace. It points to Nazism as a deeply-rooted cancer within a hyper-violent Federal Government, though these ideas are peripheral to Onslaught’s all-gas-no-brakes carnage.

Placing a retired Army sniper, Celeste (Adria Arjona), in the eye of Onslaught’s storm, Wingard’s latest also comments on the American government’s mistreatment of veterans. Penned by longtime Wingard collaborator Simon Barrett, the dichotomy exemplified by Celeste and a three-man platoon of super-soldiers insinuates a dilution of humanity via wartime’s psychological consequences. One can’t see the Jason Voorhees-esque super-soldiers tear through crowded convenience stores without thinking of “Born To Kill” written on Matthew Modine’s helmet in Full Metal Jacket, and it’s hard to witness any of Onslaught’s brutality without ruminating on the rampant violence in America. Barrett’s screenplay isn’t exactly the Rosetta Stone in terms of intricacy; instead, these ideas serve as vehicles for genre-forward entertainment.

Sitting comfortably at the top of the call sheet is Adria Arjona, an actress I’ve held stock in since her breakout role as Madison in Richard Linklater’s Hit Man. Often a supporting player in projects like Splitsville (one of 2025’s funniest movies) or Blink Twice, Arjona steps up to the plate with enough movie-star energy to power an entire neighborhood. Donning long bangs and an eyepatch à la Kurt Russell’s Snake Plissken in John Carpenter’s Escape From… duology, Arjona takes on the super-soldier squad with a delightful ferocity. Clearly reeling from her own wartime experience while sharing custody of her daughter, Daisy (Blake Kennedy), Celeste’s isolated trailer-park landlord lifestyle goes sideways upon the arrival of “Cockroach,” “Crybaby,” and “The Butcher.”

Combining the super-soldier threads from The Guest with the home-invasion romp of You’re Next, Onslaught reads as a re-polish of Wingard’s scrappier indie features. After ten years of Wingard taking IP jobs with 2016’s Blair Witch, 2017’s Death Note, and his Monsterverse duology, Wingard’s return to his roots is long overdue. I can’t hate on him for chasing meaty paychecks, but I’m a journalist, not an accountant. In the twelve years between The Guest and Onslaught, Wingard didn’t direct a single film I would consider rewatching—not exactly stellar for one’s reputation. Maybe Onslaught marks a new chapter for Adam Wingard, one where he has enough industry clout to throw spaghetti at the wall without worrying about financials or studio interference.

Conventional as Onslaught’s narrative is (it’s the John Carpenter-iest movie since Carpenter retired), the stylistic flourishes Adam Wingard brings to Barrett’s screenplay make Onslaught both enjoyable and memorable. His knack for goopy squibs is a wonderful reminder that we don’t always need CGI blood splatters, bringing back the grounded tactical realism that made The Guest’s action so tactile. Wingard’s black-and-white flashbacks may be trite, though their deployment is sparse yet harmonious in the film’s edit. The digital grain structure and freeze-frame title card (complete with the year in Roman numerals) harken to classic siege films like Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13, with Adam Wingard’s grindhouse sensibilities veering Onslaught into pulp territory. For all its genre-loaded familiarities, it’s pretty damn fun.

Most of that fun comes from Wingard playing toy soldiers in a low-budget setting, with the rest coming from quite the established supporting cast. Wingard regular Dan Stevens (The Guest’s titular visitor) stars as a Nazi scientist with a foot fetish, domineered by an also-Nazi Rebecca Hall. Terminator legend Michael Biehn makes a brief appearance as the general overseeing the super-soldier scheme, though it’s basically a glorified exposition dump. Apart from Arjona at the peak of her powers, Onslaught’s standout is Drew Starkey as a hedonistic government fixer halfway through an acid trip. Such an ensemble suggests narrative busyness, but Wingard knows better than to overstuff a film of this stature; there’s merit to the small-scale, 90-minute genre piece.

Doubtful as I am about Onslaught entering the “best of the year” conversation, there’s definite rewatchability to the film that I intend to tap into. It’s maybe one shootout shy of true greatness, though the action on display remains rompy and bloody. It’s definitely made for a packed late-night crowd (as opposed to my 10 a.m. viewing); I wouldn’t mind a rewatch in IMAX come Friday. I wonder where Adam Wingard goes from here: does he go back to doing director-for-hire jobs, or does he double down and continue down this gonzo rabbit hole? I’m praying for the latter, as I believe Wingard’s crowning achievement is yet to come. Consider me sated either way.

Movie Review: "Onslaught"; Small-Scale, Big Fun, and Bloody as Hell