Sep 4, 2026 · 1h 57m
Onslaught revives the black-and-chrome action movie
The Black-and-Chrome Action Movie Pack and ‘Onslaught’ With Michael Biehn and Adam Wingard!
The episode examines why a once-common strain of gritty, militaristic genre filmmaking has faded—and whether Onslaught can restore its cult appeal.
- 1Onslaught embraces thin plotting, eccentric characters, and inventive set pieces as virtues of cult-minded genre filmmaking.
- 2The hosts define black-and-chrome action through militarism, vehicles, extreme violence, dark humor, and a future-facing visual language.
- 3Adam Wingard and Michael Biehn connect Onslaught’s influences to career longevity, collaborative sets, and the freedom of bold performances.
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Adam Wingard and Michael Biehn explain how trust, preparation, and collaborative freedom let Onslaught’s actors make unusually bold choices.
The brief
Sean Fennessey and Chris Ryan begin with Mutiny and Whisper Man, weighing piracy, shortened theatrical windows, streaming’s role, and whether some movies now belong on television.
Onslaught becomes the episode’s center: a super-soldier story set around a trailer park, built from horror, Western, survivalist, and action influences rather than elaborate mythology.
The hosts define “black and chrome” action as gritty, militaristic, vehicle-driven, extreme, darkly funny filmmaking, then place films from The Road Warrior to The Matrix Reloaded in its canon.
Adam Wingard and Michael Biehn trace Onslaught’s influences, including Aliens and Time Bomb, while discussing Biehn’s career, Wingard’s return to personal genre work, and action filmmaking.
Their conversation lands on cult longevity: trust lets actors make gonzo choices, while careful preparation and a collaborative set give eccentric performances room to work.
Adam Wingard
Michael Biehn
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