Onslaught
This review contains spoilers
A couple little notes:
- Wingard directed this well. I mean, A24 movies are known for being more artsy in general, but this mixture of legitimately great shots (the aforementioned 'super soldiers standing looking menacing' never got old) and great blood splatter. The chainsaw at the end is an especially memorable gore moment because it was violent but also cathartic.
- Dan Stevens should have been in this more. His prosthetics sucked but watching him act is always a treat. With that said, it was still pretty cool how he was snuffed out quite early because they build him up like he's going to be the big bad and he gets murdered by his own experiments.
- When I said it became lesser as it went on, I think it just kind of peed on its own potential a little bit, while never getting bad. The introduction of the super soldiers was cool. I got Metal Gear Solid vibes in that they have their own gimmick of sorts (like the Butcher), though not supernatural. In fact, if there were supernatural elements to it, that would have been really cool. Someone just needs to make Metal Gear already because we got these super soldiers and then earlier in the year we had a Metal Gear in War Machine.
Anyway, and they have a cool introduction and slaughter everybody. Then they massacre a gas station. Then they show up at the trailer park. And this is all very cool, menacing and dark.
But then it amounts to super soldiers who aren't really... that super? Like, they're military and they do some military signaling but you never get the impression that they're that good at it. A dude runs around with a chainsaw like he's out of a slasher flick (which I suppose this mostly is). A guy runs out of ammo at the perfect moment. Like there is some punching through a door or whatever. My point is, they seem awfully normal after all that build. I do appreciate the build though. Did a lot more to establish them than a lot of movies, even with them saying nothing. They just don't stick the landing when the shit really hits the fan.
But I was still quite entertained by this, even if it's not amazing.
- Wingard directed this well. I mean, A24 movies are known for being more artsy in general, but this mixture of legitimately great shots (the aforementioned 'super soldiers standing looking menacing' never got old) and great blood splatter. The chainsaw at the end is an especially memorable gore moment because it was violent but also cathartic.
- Dan Stevens should have been in this more. His prosthetics sucked but watching him act is always a treat. With that said, it was still pretty cool how he was snuffed out quite early because they build him up like he's going to be the big bad and he gets murdered by his own experiments.
- When I said it became lesser as it went on, I think it just kind of peed on its own potential a little bit, while never getting bad. The introduction of the super soldiers was cool. I got Metal Gear Solid vibes in that they have their own gimmick of sorts (like the Butcher), though not supernatural. In fact, if there were supernatural elements to it, that would have been really cool. Someone just needs to make Metal Gear already because we got these super soldiers and then earlier in the year we had a Metal Gear in War Machine.
Anyway, and they have a cool introduction and slaughter everybody. Then they massacre a gas station. Then they show up at the trailer park. And this is all very cool, menacing and dark.
But then it amounts to super soldiers who aren't really... that super? Like, they're military and they do some military signaling but you never get the impression that they're that good at it. A dude runs around with a chainsaw like he's out of a slasher flick (which I suppose this mostly is). A guy runs out of ammo at the perfect moment. Like there is some punching through a door or whatever. My point is, they seem awfully normal after all that build. I do appreciate the build though. Did a lot more to establish them than a lot of movies, even with them saying nothing. They just don't stick the landing when the shit really hits the fan.
But I was still quite entertained by this, even if it's not amazing.
Mini Review: I had higher hopes for this but still enjoyed it quite a bit. It's way more horror than action, which I didn't know going in. Arjona is great here. It's got a grindhouse feel to it, and a lot of the super soldiers standing looking menacing. But I dug the atmosphere, even if the action itself is a little uninspired. It became a little lesser as it went on, such as with the super soldiers themselves, but at the end of the day I think it's quite good.
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