Tag: US military

[EXPRESSO] Onslaught (2026) | Die Dudermensch

On paper, this should be an easy win, even if it’s a bit weird A24 is distributing what is really a genre offering reminescent of 80s exploitation grindhouse action flicks like The Exterminator.

Onslaught is about Celeste, an US army sniper, whom has defacto retired into a parking lot in the New Mexico desert to deal with her PTSD, complicating her troubled family life.

That is, until a trio of genetically engineered super soldiers, created by a former Nazi scientist, escape from the secret experiment bases they were held in, killing everyone in their path, and eventually moving their systematic massacre to Celeste’s parking lot..

Apparently this is a continuation from Adam Wingard’s 2014 movie Guest, which i didnt’ see, and on its own, Onslaught, despit some stylistical apt choices and some good old school practical gore effects, doesn’t really live up to its own title, in every aspect it lacks the substance, it never displays or conveys the raw fury it promises, nor manages to properly develop some of its ideas.

Maybe it would be easier to accept the movie for what it is instead of what could have been…. if it didn’t deliberately AND aggressively built up the final “onslaught” to be some this thing you need to brace for, and frankly you really don’t, it’s not even that excessive.

Even the literal super soldaten are kinda of a letdown, i liked the idea of these being de facto militarized slasher villains… but that is really as far as it goes.

It’s entertaining, the action is fun, the characters mostly stock but okay, and it’s barely above 90 minutes, so it’s not boring and knows to keep things as long as they need to, but you’d wish the movie didn’t set itself up for disappointment as it did.

[EXPRESSO] Warfare (2025) | Iraq To The Past

So, is this yet another chapter for the “america gonna invade your country and 20 years later make a movie how sad it made their soldiers” folder of war movies?

I mean, it does depict a real life episode taking place in November 2006 in Iraq, based on testimonies from the people that were in those platoons of NAVY Seals, so it’s almost 20 years after the facts…. but it ain’t that. Even if it is?

After Civil War Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza are back, for Warfare, which sets off to realistically portray the events that happened to a NAVY Seals squad on a very minor mission in Iraq, which evolves into them taking over a civilian house and being bottled up in there as they wait for evacuation/rescue, while trying to defend the position, all based on the retelling of the actual soldiers that were involved.

And it does commit to the realistical, almost documentary style. intense approach, to the point it doesn’t try to actually have a standard plot structure, character development or plot points for that matter, and doesn’t skirt away from the fact there’s a lot of routine processes, waiting around for protocols, alongside opaque military lingo that’s not meant to be understood, uncaring if it may come off as “boring” to general audiences because the point is to tell tit – as possible as it could ever be – “as it was”.

It’s also very unflattering of the military, but i feel it’s not exactly anti-war (as anti-war as a war movie can actually be), it’s more of a by-product of the realistical approach (especially given some ending credits stuff), and there are still some questionable choices, but i can’t deny that it’s quite gripping and at 95 minutes simply doesn’t overstay its welcome.