Style can carry a film far, but without substance beneath it, you will never get a well-rounded experience. Written by Simon Barrett and directed by Adam Wingard, Onslaught is a movie that chooses spectacle over story. Visually stunning and always interesting, most viewers will still find it to be too ordinary for its own good.

After breaking from their containment, a rogue team of genetically engineered super-soldiers come face to face with the residents of a small trailer park. Adria Arjona stars, with a supporting cast that includes Alex Pereira, Blake Kennedy, Drew Starkey and Dan Stevens.

Ripped straight from the 80s, dripping in VHS flavour, Onslaught might be the most visually stunning film of the year. For certain audience members, its style will scratch a very particular itch. Oren Soffer’s neon-plated cinematography and Matt Pusti’s synth-heavy soundtrack do a lot of work in elevating the film’s quality. Furthermore, Adria Arjona is quite good as a deadbeat mom, and Dan Stevens is appropriately silly as a Nazi scientist. Sadly, the movie’s script is dreadfully hollow and doesn’t earn the incredible production that surrounds it.

With a narrative that can be explained in just one or two sentences, not much really happens in this film. Every moment feels as though it is building to a scene that will kick the story into top gear, but said scene never arrives. This is a movie that should have pushed its audience to the limit and challenged expectations, but every sequence is simply too plain. Finally, the ending is far too abrupt. A bombastic finale would seem to be a no-brainer for a throwback release like this, but sadly, the final act is rushed and underwhelming.

Onslaught is a prime example of wasted potential. Despite featuring many memorable scenes, it disappoints purely for the fact that it could have been a modern classic if done right. But with all this in mind, the movie can still be recommended to those who long for the bygone era of cheesy action flicks.