Tag Archives: veterans

ONSLAUGHT – Review

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Adria Arjona in ONSLAUGHT. Photo Credit: Richard Foreman. Courtesy of A24

– By Cate Marquis –

ONSLAUGHT is an action/horror film about a ex-Army sniper defending herself and her daughter against an attack by a team of super soldiers gone rogue in a 1970s style grind-house action film, a few touches intended as gallows humor. But director Adam Wingard’s action/horror flick delivers little, with an uninspired, predictable plot, stock or unconvincingly weird characters, and more style than substance, making even its brief 90 minutes feel too long. After watching this disappointing actioner, one question springs to mind: why is this actioner in theaters instead of going straight to streaming. Far better films than this one have had that fate. Or been shelved for a tax write-off.

The press materials describe the story, which largely takes place in the New Mexico desert at a rundown trailer park, as being about a “badass” ex-Army sniper (Adria Arjona) who “unleashed hell” trying to protect her daughter from “an army of genetically engineered” opponents. There are several points in which this grind-house actioner does not match that description. While, frankly, this writer is less enamored of grind-house action than some, if a film is going to promise this stuff, it should deliver it.

Actually there are only three of these deadly fellows, not an army. They are not “generically engineered” but psychologically-altered and biologically-enhanced veterans like herself who were selected for their ability to survive rather than something lab-created. These super soldiers escape a secret private paramilitary installation that was once a military facility but is now run by an ancient German ex-Nazi played by Dan Stevens, dressed in all white and sporting some weird make-up, with an obvious bald cap with white haired fringe, an unwrinkled face with bushy eye brows but age-spotted wrinkled hands. We first meet this German mad scientist character at home with his younger, dominate wife (Rebecca Hall), indulging in a little foot-fetish fun. The three super soldiers had been activated to demonstrate their skills for a potential client, but when they get loose, Dan Stevens’ German decides a little field testing might be a good idea.

Meanwhile, we first meet Adria Arjona’s ex-sniper, Celeste, as she is engaged in a little target practice with a line of jack-o-lanterns. That they are jack-o-lanterns, not just pumpkins is a tip-off that this woman who has time on her hands. Target practice with a rifle, which she does, makes sense but finishing off the pumpkins with a semi-automatic assault weapon, which she also does, does not make sense, as it is just has to be pointed in the general direction, making that just a show for the camera.

While Arjona’s character has plenty of time to carve pumpkins to shoot up, cleaning the trailer where she lives in a run-down trailer park, is another matter. When she spots her wealthy ex-husband’s car driving up the the worn rural trailer park, she flies into a frenzy of straightening up, bed-making and, responsibly, locking up her weapons. The ex is there to drop off their young daughter, even though it is not Celeste’s week to have her. The ex has some urge business that has come up and just assumed he could drop her off. He also informs her that he is planning to move across the country, and reminds her that she does not need to live in this decrepit trailer park. Celeste tells him she wants to live there, because she feels comfortable among the residents, these fellow wounded people. Their seven-year-old daughter, Daisy (Blake Kennedy), is a sweet, polite little girl who seems not to know her mother well.

The cast is filled out with an assortment of sad residents in the old trailer park, including a cop and a few older military veterans. When the U.S. government gets wind that things have gone wrong at their former military site, they dispatch a young, stylish “fixer” named Cyrus (Drew Starkey), who they call up from his night off at a S&M club.

As far as “unleashing hell,” in fact our sniper mostly is unable to reach her large store of weapons and spends a lot of time knocked on her back and screaming until pure chance saves her from certain death at the hands of whichever super soldier is attacking. The super soldiers are nearly indestructible but they are not too bright and nearly as predictable as the plot of this sorry film.

There isn’t much to say about the acting since the characters are so predictable or stock, and there isn’t much for any of them to work with. However, Dan Stevens deserves mention for his weird-looking old-young German character, only to say that he might reconsider his recent choices of roles. The talented Rebecca Hall is wasted in her small part.

ONSLAUGHT has the gore, violence, body count and bits of sexual raciness that the genre calls for, but it falls short on the specifics the promotional materials seem to promise. Again, it is all style but little substance.

The one perhaps admirable aspect is the film’s sympathy for veterans, mistreated and discarded by the military and their government, and the long history of that treatment that is alluded to in the opening credits montage, which references WWII and U.S. wars since then. Still, that is just background to the carnage, familiar plot and stock characters, and the heroine’s many escapes by mere chance.

As said earlier, at 90 minutes, it still feels too long. Some scenes seem almost laughable with little indication that they were supposed to be comedy, and moments of intended gallows humor are more grim than actually funny. There isn’t much to recommend this action/horror offering, whose much interesting parts are the rather clever opening and closing credits.

ONSLAUGHT opens in theaters on Friday, Sept. 4, 2026.

RATING: 1 out of 4 stars

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE – Review

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(L to R) Adam Schumann (MILES TELLER), Solo Aeiti (BEULAH KOALE) and Will Waller (JOE COLE) in DreamWorks Pictures’ “Thank You for Your Service.” The drama follows a group of U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq who struggle to integrate back into family and civilian life, while living with the memory of a war that threatens to destroy them long after they’ve left the battlefield. Photo Credit: Francois Duhamel/DreamWorks Pictures. COPYRIGHT © Storyteller Distribution Co., LLC

Not all wounds suffered in war are obvious. The fog of war is replaced by the fog of the VA for a band of soldiers returned from Iraq in THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE. While several films have depicted the experience of soldiers in the Iraq War, few have told the story of their experience after they return home. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE focuses on gritty reality rather than comforting patriotism as it follows a handful of Iraq War veterans coping with a military that seems far less responsive as they move from soldiers to veterans, and as they struggle to adjust to a civilian life where those who lost a leg are recognized but less so those suffering the wounds of PTSD.

Other Iraq war films have focused on the experience of war but THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE spotlights the obligation of the military to soldiers as they transition to veterans. Miles Teller delivers a sterling performance as Adam Schumann, the de facto leader of this close-knit group. Among this band of brothers are Tausolo Aieti (Beulah Koale), Billy Waller (Joe Cole) And Michael Emory (Scott Haze). On the flight home, they jokes and tease, talk about their plans for the future, and seem eager to get back to civilian life. But part of it is a brave front to cover up troubling problems or even pure fantasy. As they shed their uniforms, a new battle begins.

A new reality greets them as soon as they land, when Schumann’s wife Saskia (Haley Bennett) meets him in the company of her best friend Amanda (Amy Schumer, in a rare dramatic role), the widow of one of the group who didn’t make it home. Amanda is desperate for details on her husband’s death, something Teller’s Schumann is equally desperate to avoid talking about.

The cast also includes Keisha Castle-Hughes, Brad Beyer, Omar J. Dorsey, and Jayson Warner Smith. Cinematography by Roman Vasyanov adds a surprising beauty to ordinary settings, and helps draw out the inner conflicts the men are struggling with.

Writer/director Jason Hall takes a direct, head-on approach to the challenges these vets face, which makes it clear his sympathies lie with these soldiers rather than the system or superior offices. Based on journalist David Finkel’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, this film has a far different tone from his last film, AMERICAN SNIPER. Those who disliked that film may find this one more involving and insightful, while those who embraced the earlier film may not care for its hard-hitting stance on the treatment of veterans by the military.

 

One of the first parts of that battle is just the transition from active military to veteran. The military is glad to have them re-enlist and walk them through every step but when it comes to even getting the card to get the veterans benefits they are owed, the men find themselves waiting in huge room of fellow soldiers, facing a bewildering system of forms and with no one to guide them. It is a lot to ask of someone suffering from PTSD and accustomed to military efficiency. On the streets, their uniforms draw thank-yous but no practical help. Once out of uniform and with no obvious wounds, they are expected to fit in with the unforgiving pace of a society that has moved forward without them.

The sympathies of this moving drama are with the returning soldiers rather than military or government they served. When striking scene has Teller’s Schumann in the office of commanding officer that is supposed to be helping him get treatment for his PTSD. While the officer seems like his is going to help, his focus keeps drifting to the online shopping he is doing while trying to help Schumann. It is a perfect illustration of a flawed system, where even personal attention is some how impersonal. The search for help is vital to Schumann but just routine to the officer, no matter how well-meaning he may be.

As the drama builds, all these soldiers go on their own rocky journeys, often trying to tough through on their own. Schumann continues to play a protective role towards the others as he did in Iraq but finally he has to confront his own demons.

Much of why this film works emotionally as well as it does (and it does work better than many recent war films) is due to Miles Teller’s strong, layered performance. Teller has shown himself to be an acting power house in films such as WHIPLASH and THE SPECTACULAR NOW, and here he shows his range in a role of both quiet strength and complex human feelings. The ensemble cast blend well, each adding their own distinct thread, but Teller’s performance is the linchpin.

Although the story is set during the Iraq War, the story is universal one for returning soldiers in modern America. While every veteran’s experience is unique, the film points to some significant weaknesses in the country’s treatment of those who served in war. The U.S. military is very good at war but THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE makes clear it needs some improvement in how those who served are returned to civilian life.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars