Onslaught Review: Adria Arjona is Action Star in Mostly Messy Thriller
Director Adam Wingard (Godzilla vs. Kong) returns with a 90 minute thriller in Onslaught, a story about a mother having to fend off mindless killing machines.
Synopsis:
"When a rogue squad of genetically engineered super soldiers break loose in the desert, a Army sniper (Adria Arjona) must unleash hell to protect her young daughter."
Cast:
Adria Arjona, Dan Stevens, Drew Starkey, Rebecca Hall
Release Date:
In Theaters Now
Arjona Brings Entertainment In Action Sequences
Adria Arjona seems to be having a moment right now, coming off the backs of Andor and now being cast in a mystery role in James Gunn's Superman sequel. Now comes this film, which to me is the first time I've ever seen her in a leading fashion. She really fits into this role well and was one of the undeniable positives for this film. We get to learn more about her life as a divorced ex-military mother in the first and second act, which really makes you sympathize for the life she has. This makes it so once we do get into these action sequences, it is genunely a character that we want to root for. The motherhood qualities are not only are shown in the ways she protects her daughter, but also in bossing around some of the other characters who get caught in the line of fire. This creates a very funny, no-nonsense dynamic with a lot of the characters that are surronding her. She is a very capable lead in this project and was someone that will keep you into it regardless of how other elements play out.
Just generally, the action in this film is very entertaining. Once these killing machines are unleashed into the world, it creates for a very interesting bit of sequences. These three villains are basically portrayed as unbeatable from the very start, something emphasized in their first massacre at a truck stop. This sets the tone for them right away and allows the viewer to genuinely feel the weight of the threat that stands before them. It also allows for a lot of creative sequences when our protagonist has to figure out how to find any way to defeat them or slow them down. I also do like the designs for them, although a bit basic, they look exactly like three brainwashed soldiers would.
Side Characters Are Brushed Aside
Outside of the rising star Arjona, there is a pretty notable supporting cast here as well. Unfortunately, none of them are focused on even close to enough for the audience to care about their arcs. Dan Stevens is second billed in this project, but it feels like he's out of the story before we even understand anything about him. They are clearly setting up a pretty insane backstory for him as a villain, but it's basically pushed aside 30 minutes into the film. Rebecca Hall's character is also supposed to be involved in that, as she's revealed to be his partner, but she only features in three scenes in total. They never even attempt to explore that relationship past short teases and a goofy scene at the beginning.
Drew Starkey's character actually came into this story in a really interesting way for me, partly because of the humor but also what seemed to lie under the drug-addict look. Sadly, he's another casualty of the script having no intention of shining on anyone but Arjona. There is no development into the character he is, who he works for, or anything besides just some casual gags. It seems to me that this was intentional by the filmakers, as they just wanted to put as much as they could towards Arjona's character, but frankly it makes this one a very basic film that also has additional issues.
Larger World Isn't Explored At All
Onslaught introduces a much larger world then is actually delved into inside the film. We have a mysterious organization breeding killing machines, a main character who has a connection to one of them, and some sort of political connection that dates back to WWII. The opening montage even flashes through events in history, seemingly hinting that there will be a deeper throughline here. But no, the film never really goes into any of this. Everything is left mostly vauge, which I assume was a strategy to make the audience give their own interpretation or meaning to what has happened around them. This may work for some, but for me just left me thinking exactly how many concepts went unexplored. There's even some lines from our more grounded characters about how the country/state deserves war, but it is never exactly explained why. The almost 90 minute runtime (before credits) really hurt them here, as they have a lot to set up in very little time. It seems like the filmmakers were okay with that, considering this was more action-focused than anything else, but that personally did not work with me.
Outdated Dialogue and Style
It became very clear to me early on that this film was trying to emulate some of the classic action thrillers of the past. You have Arjona as that classic one-person army, a secret government plot, and much more that feels very heavy on its influences. This has worked with some recent films, most notably Send Help from this year for me, but for Onslaught I just think it played way too much into it. There's elements of this that do feel modern because of the filmmaking that's available in 2026, so seeing Arjona drop some ridiculous one liners just feels weird in this setting. They struggled to find the right tone here, which will have you rolling your eyes at the end in some of the dialogue and action.
You can probably see from the trailers and description that this is very much deserving of its R-rating. The style is very explicit and gory, which is fine by me if it actually works. Unfortunately this one just felt over-stylized at times, mostly with the swearing and some of the "kills". There's flashing lights, blasted metal music, and many other elements that will probably just ostracize casual viewers.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, there's always a chance that Onslaught is somebody else's thing more than mine. If you watched the trailers and seemed interested, that may still be the case when you actually sit down to watch it. But for me it becomes nothing more than just entertaining action and that's not something that'll receive a super high rating for me.
Rating: 2/5 Stars
Onslaught is Ranked 56th out of the 65 new releases that I've seen this year.
Editor's Note: I've only included the top 20 from my 2026 new releases list, for editing purposes.
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