Adam Wingard returns to his trashy genre roots with ‘Onslaught’

Adam Wingard returns to his roots with "Onslaught," a film that revisits his signature style characterized by raw efficiency and blood-soaked thrills, echoing the spirit of his earlier works like "You're Next" and "The Guest." Moving away from CGI-laden blockbusters like "Godzilla vs. Kong," Wingard delivers a gripping, low-budget siege cinema experience reminiscent of John Carpenter's classics.

The film features a powerhouse performance by Adria Arjona as Celeste and a scene-stealing turn by Dan Stevens as a villainous mad scientist.

Despite a slightly underwhelming final act, "Onslaught" stands as a testament to Wingard's prowess in creating immersive, genre-driven storytelling.

SEPT 12 — It’s always nice to see a filmmaker return to their trashy, low-budget roots after a stint with the major studios.

For the better part of a decade, Adam Wingard has been somewhat lost inside the corporate machinery of Hollywood’s franchise industrial complex.

While his Godzilla vs. Kong entries were undeniably slick, big budget spectacles (and a whole lot of fun in their own special ways), they inevitably lacked the mean-spirited ingenuity, efficiency, and blood-soaked thrill of his early work.

Which is why Onslaught , which opened in Malaysian cinemas just last week, feels like such a breath of fresh air, especially when released just as the summer movie season ends.

Stripping away the CGI giant monsters, Wingard goes down and dirty again with a modestly budgeted, lean and mean genre entry.

It is clearly Wingard going back to making the exact type of films that made his name in the first place — sturdy, efficient, and wonderfully gory siege cinema — cut from the exact same cloth as You’re Next and The Guest .

In fact, comparing Onslaught directly to The Guest reveals just how much Wingard thrives when he operates within self-imposed boundaries.

The Guest succeeded because it took a simple, archetypal narrative, that of the mysterious stranger invading a family home, and injected it with relentless John Carpenter-esque dread, retro 1980s neon-soaked aesthetics, and a deliciously unhinged performance from Dan Stevens.

Onslaught functions on a very similar frequency. Swap out the quiet suburban house for an isolated, run down trailer park, and swap out Dan Stevens' super soldier for a trio of escaped, genetically modified super soldiers, and you have a film that plays almost like a disguised remake, reboot or even a sequel to The Guest .

Like all good siege films, Onslaught is an unabashed love letter to Carpenter, specifically his eternal classics Assault on Precinct 13 and Escape From New York , with a healthy dose of James Cameron’s The Terminator thrown into the mix for good measure.

Wingard captures that precise 70s/80s genre cadence — an isolated setting, a ticking clock, and an unstoppable force pounding at the gates — with perfect ease.

Where The Guest had Dan Stevens effortlessly charming and terrifying us in equal measure, Onslaught hands the emotional heavy lifting to Adria Arjona.

Fresh off impressive turns in Andor and Blink Twice , Arjona is a total badass lead here, and will remind Wingard fans of the similarly badass lead performance by Sharni Vinson in You’re Next .

She plays Celeste, a former Army sniper trying to keep her life together, with a raw, grounded physicality that makes every tactical manoeuvre and brutal exchange feel earned.

Having said that, Stevens isn't left out of the fun. Reuniting with Wingard 12 years after The Guest , Stevens flips his role from mysterious anti-hero to outright villain.

He has an absolute blast chewing the scenery as the wild, mad scientist figure behind the super soldier project, and I loved every second of his performance.

It’s the kind of uninhibited, gleeful work that reminds you why genre cinema can be so much fun when actors completely commit to the bit.

Yet, amid all the flying limbs and bullet riddled walls, the film's most delightful surprise is young Blake Kennedy as Celeste's daughter, Daisy.

Instead of playing the typical screaming child who exists purely to be rescued in most movies, Daisy is written and played as a proper, polite little lady.

Her pristine manners in the middle of absolute carnage inject a subtle, quirky and pitch-perfect element of comedy into the proceedings, giving the tension room to breathe.

If I had to complain about at least one thing, it would have to be the final stretch.

Onslaught builds up such a fantastic momentum during its first two acts that the final battle between Celeste and the last surviving super soldier didn't feel quite as epic or brutally difficult as what some fans might expect from a true final boss fight.

Some might even call it anti-climactic, that’s how underwhelming that final boss fight was.

Were parts of it censored because of extreme violence? It could be, but I can only find out once the film is out on digital, so as of now, it’s a wee bit underwhelming for my gore loving tastes. But that’s just me nitpicking.

Overall, Onslaught is a very solid piece of genre entertainment, especially during that remarkably exciting buildup, that proves Wingard is still at his absolute best when he forgets the studio green screens and goes back to basics.

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亚当·温加德携《猛攻》回归本源，这部电影重拾了他标志性的风格，以粗犷的效率和血腥的刺激感著称，与他早期的作品如《你是下一个》和《访客》遥相呼应。温加德摒弃了像《哥斯拉大战金刚》那样充斥着电脑特效的大片，打造了一部扣人心弦的低成本围攻电影，让人想起约翰·卡朋特的经典之作。

这部电影中，阿德里亚·阿霍纳饰演的塞莱斯特表现出色，丹·史蒂文斯饰演的邪恶疯狂科学家也抢尽风头。

尽管结局略显平淡，《猛攻》仍然证明了温加德在创造沉浸式、类型驱动型故事方面的卓越才能。

9 月 12 日——看到一位电影制作人在与大型电影公司合作一段时间后，回归其低成本、低成本的创作根源，总是令人欣慰的。

在过去的近十年里，亚当·温加德在某种程度上迷失在好莱坞特许经营产业综合体的企业机器中。

虽然他的《哥斯拉大战金刚》系列电影无疑是制作精良、预算庞大的奇观（而且以其独特的方式带来了很多乐趣），但它们不可避免地缺乏他早期作品中那种恶意的创造力、效率和血腥刺激感。

正因如此，上周刚刚在马来西亚影院上映的《猛攻》才让人感到耳目一新，尤其是在夏季电影档期即将结束之际上映。

抛开 CGI 巨型怪兽，温加德再次回归朴实无华的风格，打造了一部预算适中、精简而又精彩的类型片。

很明显，温加德又开始制作让他成名的电影类型——坚固、高效、精彩血腥的围城电影——与《你是下一个》和《访客》一脉相承。

事实上，将《猛攻》与《访客》直接比较，就能看出温加德在自我设定的界限内创作时有多么出色。

《访客》之所以成功，是因为它采用了一个简单的原型故事——神秘的陌生人入侵一个家庭——并注入了约翰·卡朋特式的无情恐惧、复古的 1980 年代霓虹灯美学，以及丹·史蒂文斯精彩绝伦的疯狂表演。

《猛攻》的运作方式与《访客》非常相似。把宁静的郊区住宅换成偏僻破旧的拖车公园，把丹·史蒂文斯的超级士兵换成三个逃脱的基因改造超级士兵，你就得到了一部几乎像是《访客》的伪装翻拍、重启甚至是续集的电影。

就像所有优秀的围攻电影一样，《猛攻》毫不掩饰地向卡朋特致敬，特别是向他的永恒经典《第十三号警署》和《纽约大逃亡》致敬，同时还巧妙地融入了詹姆斯·卡梅隆的《终结者》的元素。

温加德完美地捕捉到了 70 年代/80 年代电影的精准节奏——一个与世隔绝的环境，一个滴答作响的时钟，以及一股势不可挡的力量猛烈地冲击着大门。

如果说《访客》中丹·史蒂文斯轻松地展现了魅力和恐惧，那么《猛攻》则将情感上的重担交给了阿德里亚·阿霍纳。

凭借在《安多》和《眨眼之间》中的出色表现，阿霍纳在本片中饰演了一位十足的狠角色，这会让温加德的粉丝想起莎妮·文森在《你是下一个》中同样精彩的表演。

她饰演的塞莱斯特是一位前陆军狙击手，努力维持自己的生活。她以一种原始、接地气的肢体语言，让每一次战术行动和残酷的交锋都显得合情合理。

话虽如此，史蒂文斯也并非毫无乐趣。在《访客》上映12年后，他与温加德再度合作，并将角色从神秘的反英雄转变为彻头彻尾的反派。

他把超级士兵计划背后的疯狂科学家角色演绎得淋漓尽致，尽情发挥，我非常喜欢他表演的每一秒。

这种无拘无束、充满欢乐的表演，让你想起为什么当演员们完全投入角色时，类型电影会如此有趣。

然而，在四处飞舞的肢体和布满弹孔的墙壁之中，这部电影最令人惊喜的是年轻的布莱克·肯尼迪饰演的塞莱斯特的女儿黛西。

与大多数电影中那种只会尖叫、存在的唯一目的就是被拯救的典型儿童形象不同，黛西被塑造成一个举止得体、彬彬有礼的小淑女。

在一片混乱之中，她依然保持着无可挑剔的举止，这给整个事件注入了一种微妙、古怪而又恰到好处的喜剧元素，让紧张的气氛得以缓解。

如果非要挑剔一点的话，那就是最后的冲刺阶段了。

《猛攻》在前两幕中积累了如此惊人的势头，以至于塞莱斯特与最后一位幸存的超级士兵之间的最终决战，并没有像一些粉丝所期待的那样，展现出史诗般的场面或残酷的难度。

有些人甚至可能会觉得结局虎头蛇尾，最终boss战就是这么令人失望。

是不是因为暴力镜头太多而被删减了？有可能，但只有等电影上线数字平台才能知道，所以就目前来看，对于我这种喜欢血腥暴力的人来说，它有点让人失望。不过这只是我吹毛求疵罢了。

总的来说，《猛攻》是一部非常扎实的类型娱乐作品，尤其是在那段激动人心的铺垫阶段，证明了温加德在抛开摄影棚绿幕、回归本源时，依然处于最佳状态。

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