With his new film “Onslaught,” Adam Wingard is open about his influences. And, on its face, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
There are sections of “Onslaught” (written by frequent Wingard collaborator Simon Barrett) that are inoffensive in their clear reverence for the films of John Carpenter, James Cameron, and a slew of action/horror films from the 1980s. Like many of those films, “Onslaught” sets you up for a story about someone – in this case, army veteran Celeste (Adria Arjona) – who has been screwed over by the U.S. government and now has to take on a terrifying new enemy brought on by that very same U.S. government – in this case, genetically engineered super soldiers with nothing but killing on the brain.
The synth-driven score, the presence of actors Michael Biehn (“The Terminator”) and Reginald VelJohnson (“Die Hard”), the general distrust in the American system – it all screams ’80s action film (not that distrust in the government is a feeling that solely belongs in that decade – in a lot of ways, “Onslaught” feels terribly relevant). But “Onslaught” might be a little too interested in its reference points and not interested enough in the basic film structure that helps make the movies it so reveres work.
Celeste is a former sniper who struggles with PTSD, living out in the middle of the desert because it’s the only place she feels safe – no mountains, no barriers to her sight, and almost no one around to bother her. She shares custody of her young daughter, Daisy (Blake Kennedy) with her asshole ex-husband, who springs Daisy on her without warning on what ends up being the worst weekend possible – the same weekend the previously mentioned super soldiers escape captivity just a few miles away.
Those soldiers were under the care of Dr. Hans Kammler (Dan Stevens), a studious, horny little Nazi scientist (his introduction involves a good bit of foot licking) who loves nothing more than experiencing the violent carnage his creations unleash. The soldiers are former marines, kidnapped and stripped of all their humanity – the idea being that soldiers who aren’t mired by human emotion will be far more easily able to kill civilians without remorse.
Combined with the way the soldiers are dressed, all Kevlared and masked up, it’s easy to draw a line from Kammler’s idea of the perfect soldier – AKA, the perfect killing machine – to the increased presence of ICE in numerous U.S. cities, as well as the number of people who have been killed at the hands of ICE agents over the past year. And the early moments of horror after the soldiers initially escape are not as fun as you might expect from an ‘80s riff. One of the film’s first action sequences takes place inside a gas station, the soldiers murdering everyone in sight. There’s no real theatrical flair – the scene is terrifying in its brutal efficiency. And later, as the soldiers terrorize Celeste and Daisy, it’s not lost on the audience that we’re watching masked, armed men break into the home of a Hispanic woman and her young daughter.
That horrifying real life connection forms a tension with “Onslaught’s” sillier moments (once again, I must remind you of Kammler’s foot licking introduction). But the combination of real political commentary and campier elements is a staple of the ‘80s movies “Onslaught” is referencing, and something that Wingard has historically had a pretty good handle on. It’s not so much the fact that the tension exists that makes “Onslaught” a confusing watch, but rather the fact that structurally, it makes no attempt to wrap up plot, character, or thematic considerations whatsoever. In fact, I’d argue it doesn’t have a third act at all.
It’s difficult to talk about how strange the ending (if you can call it that) of “Onslaught” feels – particularly for Wingard, who has a history of pulling off pretty killer finales. Throughout the film, we’re introduced to narrative threads, and naturally we later expect to find catharsis. For example, the narrative obstacle between Celeste and her daughter isn’t as dramatic as say, the one between Sarah Connor and John in “Terminator 2.” But Arjona is really good with the young Kennedy, tenderly teasing out the pair’s differences in their early moments. The way Daisy acts – polite to a fault, the type of kid who does the dishes no questions asked and eats her burrito with a knife and fork – is enough to make Celeste – messy, angry, more than a little paranoid – feel like a failure of a mother.
A better film might have found room to bridge that gap between mother and daughter as the action kicked off, but “Onslaught” instead spends their later time together introducing a separate reveal about Celeste’s connection to one of the super soldiers – a thread that’s similarly left unexplored. By the time Celeste does her best Ripley from “Aliens” impression (“You messed with the wrong mom”), it feels like a reference for reference’s sake instead of a powerful culmination.
Without the narrative juice to back a line like that up, Wingard and Barrett leave their actors out to dry, Arjona left to find some resolution in a script that gives her none. That lack of a third act continuously makes certain choices feel shaky and rushed. The soldiers, so militaristic and frightening at the gas station, all of a sudden turn into versions of Leatherface and Jason Voorhees the minute the pick of a meat cleaver or a chainsaw. This abrupt switch is explained away with a throwaway line early on, but saps the film of some of its early political tension, and by extension the soldiers of some of their fear factor. When the film wraps up (about 30 minutes before it feels like it should) you’re left feeling like you missed something – resolution, action, and characterization all left to the wayside in favor of a little ‘80s nostalgia.
