'Terminator meets Die Hard' hailed among the year's best action movies

Brace yourselves: we're getting an original action thriller next month that already has half the internet foaming at the mouth. Onslaught is the latest from Adam Wingard – yes, the chap who gave us The Guest and those behemoth Godzilla smackdowns – reuniting with writer Simon Barrett. Early reactions make it sound like we're in for a real treat (or a proper mess, depending who you ask), and if you like your explosions with a whiff of 80s throwback, well, pay attention.

Okay this movie rocked! Go in as blind as possible because this is one of the best action films of the year. It’s nice to have the old Adam Wingard back with this perfect companion piece to The Guest. Adria Arjona is a god damn star!!

Deserts, Super Soldiers and a Lot of Throwback Energy

Here's the basic set-up: genetically engineered super soldiers have gone off the rails in the middle of nowhere. It falls to a hard-as-nails retired Army sniper, played by Adria Arjona (lately of Hit Man), to protect her daughter and generally make a bloody mess of things. Tension, carnage, sci-fi weirdness – all accounted for.

The cast has some fun surprises for genre fans. We're getting Dan Stevens (in a totally new role – not reprising The Guest, but apparently this is a "spiritual sequel" of sorts), Reginald VelJohnson of Die Hard fame, Michael Biehn (come on, Terminator), Rebecca Hall (fresh off the Godzilla ride), and MMA legend Alex Pereira. If you know your cult movies and 80s action, that's quite the nod-fest.

• Directed by Adam Wingard, co-written with Simon Barrett
• Adria Arjona leads as the sniper protagonist
• Supporting cast includes Dan Stevens, Reginald VelJohnson, Michael Biehn, Rebecca Hall, Alex Pereira
• Described as a mash-up of The Terminator and Die Hard, with shades of grindhouse throwback

Early Buzz: Loving it, Loathing it, or Both

A24 gave this one an early preview, and, predictably, folks are split. Some are hailing it as a wild, nasty bit of exploitation cinema – in fact, one particularly excitable commentator said the following, which sums up the mood fairly well:

ONSLAUGHT is Adam Wingard’s return to exploitation with a vengeance. A nasty, satiric action thriller that harbors a political consciousness beneath its genre armor. Adria Arjona shows she has a wider range than she’s already delivered. Wingard & Simon Barrett take no prisoners.

Other reactions call it "stylish to the nines" and full of "inspired performances,” happy to label it a proper B-movie homage. But of course, not everyone's buying it: one person insists "everything outside the action falls flat," and a more savage early critic went in much harder, dubbing Onslaught "one of the most irresponsible movies I've seen in a minute." Apparently, it's short on proper set pieces, doesn't maintain any real momentum, and wastes its potential.

If you've seen the trailer, you may have noticed a lot of civilians caught in the crossfire already, so you can guess what might be winding some people up. Still, when an action film has this much division boiling away even before the wide release, it probably means we're in for something a bit different – even if it isn't exactly respectable.

Onslaught arrives in cinemas next month, with Adria Arjona leading a cast packed with cult favourites.