Film

Onslaught

Name: Onslaught
Genre: Action, Thriller, Horror
Released: 2026
Cast: Adria Arjona, Dan Stevens, Eric Wareheim, Reginald VelJohnson, Michael Biehn

Military action
Relentless

A desert siege film where an Army sniper defends her daughter against escaped bioweapon super soldiers. Onslaught is grimy, propulsive action cinema—practical gunplay and genuine stakes, no winking. It's for people who want their thriller lean and nasty, with character moments that land because the violence matters.

TMDb rating

2.9

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want lean, mean action-horror where the set pieces hit hard and the genre pleasures come with no apology, the kind of cheap-and-cheerful creature feature that trusts a good gunfight more than a long setup.

Skip it if you need characters with depth or a slow-burn dread that builds, since this moves quickly toward its violence and the people around the action are sketched in broad strokes rather than given much room.

What it asks of you: Ninety-two minutes of straight-ahead momentum with little pause for reflection, so settle in for a brisk, loud ride rather than anything that lingers or unwinds.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Blue Ruin2014

A woman destroyed by grief wages methodical, desperate warfare against the people who murdered her family. Like Onslaught, it's ugly, intelligent revenge without sentimentality—every bullet has weight.

But The pacing is slow-burn and the violence is treated as trauma, not spectacle. If you want non-stop action, this will feel glacial.

Haywire2011

A betrayed government operative hunts those who set her up across continents. Soderbergh's direction lets you read every hand-to-hand fight clearly, and Gina Carano's physicality grounds the film in real flesh and bone.

But The plot is deliberately simple and the dialogue sparse. Some find it cold; it's actually focused.

The Protégé2021

Maggie Q as an assassin made lethal by the woman who raised her confronts her past. It's sleek, compact action with genuine tenderness buried in the brutality—and it remembers that killers have interior lives.

But It wears its B-movie heart openly. There's no irony here, which some viewers read as camp when it's just sincerity.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Onslaught

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Annihilation2018

Both films stage lone-woman resistance against inhuman threats. But where Onslaught is combat, Annihilation is incursion—the enemy isn't just stronger, it's other. Same structure, opposite register.

Four women descend into an alien shimmer zone to understand what destroyed a team before them. It's sci-fi horror wearing a survival-thriller body—gorgeous, creeping dread under practical danger. The violence here is against things that shouldn't exist.

But It's deliberately ambiguous about its ending and its science. Some viewers find it frustratingly vague.

Dredd2012

Karl Urban as a lawman trapped in a megacity tower fighting his way up. Shot in gorgeous digital, it's brutal and kinetic—action that trusts you to follow the geography and the stakes.

But The story is deliberately simple: one building, one day. If you need plot complexity, this will feel thin.

The Old Guard2020

Charlize Theron leads immortal soldiers through a globe-spanning fight against those who'd weaponize them. Gina Prince-Bythewood directs action that privileges geography and character—you feel the weight of centuries on them.

But The middle sags under mythology exposition. The best sequences bracket a talky, dutiful center.

A Prophet2009

A young man imprisoned for murder becomes his own weapon through cunning and violence. It's a masterclass in character transformation—every scar and decision is earned. The action is incidental to the becoming.

But Subtitled, French-language, and almost two and a half hours. The violence is purposeful, not cathartic.

Extraction2020

Chris Hemsworth as a black-ops soldier on a suicide rescue mission through a warzone. Sam Hargrave's direction delivers a continuous-motion sensibility—the action sequences breathe and flow without cutting away.

But The script is functional and the emotional beats are familiar. It exists to showcase action, not characters.

Atomic Blonde2017

Charlize Theron as an MI6 agent undercover in 1980s Berlin, fighting through synth and ice. The action is balletic and the soundtrack is immaculate—it's as much mood piece as thriller.

But The plot twists are predictable and the romance subplot delays the good stuff. You're here for the fights, and they know it.

The Protector2005

Tony Jaa as a Thai soldier avenging his murdered friend through a nameless building. The action is astonishing—acrobatic, brutal, inventive—and it works without irony or slickness.

But The dialogue is minimal and the emotional register flat. You're watching technique and fury, not character work.

Under the Skin2014

Both are about a woman as apex predator protecting territory. Onslaught is kinetic and loud; this one is patient and quiet. Same ferocity, opposite language.

Scarlett Johansson as an entity luring men to their obliteration on a Scottish motorway. Glazer's film is slow, hypnotic, nearly silent—horror through absence and dread. It's a predator film where you watch the trap spring in real time.

But There is barely any plot, minimal dialogue, and it moves at a glacial pace. Conventional narrative will not satisfy you here.

Rio Bravo1959

Onslaught inherits Rio Bravo's DNA—a defender in a fixed position, vastly outnumbered, making do with what she has. But where Hawks made waiting lyrical, Onslaught makes it explosive. The bones are the same; the tempo is not.

John Wayne as a small-town sheriff who holes up with a drunk, a kid, and a woman to survive a siege by hundreds. Hawks' masterpiece about ordinary people enduring extraordinary odds through discipline and character—it made the formula that every siege film still uses.

But It's 141 minutes of watching people prepare, talk, and wait. The action is sparse; the point is how they wait.