“This is a true story that happened in my town. So, this one Wednesday is like a normal day for the whole school, but today was different. Every other class had all their kids, but Mrs. Gandy’s room was totally empty. And do you know why? Because the night before, at 2:17 in the morning, every kid woke up, got out of bed, walked downstairs into the dark, and they never…came…back.”
Weapons explores the fallout in a small town when an entire elementary school classroom vanishes into the night. Zach Cregger (co-founder of comedy troupe ‘The Whitest Kids You Know”) directs and writes. He previously did the same for Barbarian, which quickly became a cult classic, much like Weapons is prepared to do today.
Weapons is an arguably stronger, better made movie than Barbarian, even if it does lack a central point of view. There is a case to be made for Julia Garner’s Justine Gandy and Josh Brolin’s Archer as the leads, but Weapons functions more as an ensemble piece with multiple different perspectives and point-of-views (I counted around six total). It’s an interesting, different way to tell the story, approaching it from the community level, but it works. Weapons uses its various viewpoints, perspectives, and characters to weave a full, complete story. The structure for Barbarian was one of the strongest aspects of the film, and the same goes for Weapons.
Julia Garner and Josh Brolin are fantastic as our (more-or-less) central characters, in as much as they are the only ones attempting to uncover what happened. Garner’s Gandy is, by all appearances, a good teacher but a bit of a wreck on a personal level. Brolin’s Archer is a concerned parent who initially targets Gandy before deciding to do some actual detective work. Both are likable but flawed people who make mistakes but are trying to do good. Both are in the film a good deal, and make for compelling and likable characters.
Benedict Wong is also incredibly likable as Marcus, the principal of Gandy’s school. He’s a level-headed and sane person who cares not only about getting answers, but about the safety of the staff and students of the school he oversees. Marcus is mostly in the first and second acts, but Wong’s performance leaves an impression. He can’t help but light up the screen whenever he’s on.
Austin Abrams is completely unrecognizable as James, a degenerate, homeless, drug addict. James is a tertiary character, but he does end up having a bit more importance than you might expect. Abrams is memorable enough, and gets a good deal of laughs while on screen.
Alden Ehrenreich plays Paul, a cop and ex-boyfriend to Justine who’s struggling with some personal issues. He’s only important to the film in so far as what he means to Justine. He’s also likable but very flawed. His sections don’t feel as important and aren’t as engaging as others in the film. He does have some chemistry with Julia Garner. They make for cute exes who should probably stay exes. That said, his character is really only included to add depth to Justine Gandy’s character. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it just is what it is.
Amy Madigan plays Aunt Gladys, a mysterious, frightening, and kooky elderly woman. Gladys doesn’t enter the film proper until later on, but she definitely has a role to play. Madigan plays a character who is immediately off-putting just based on her appearance alone, and her performance perfectly straddles the line between freaky and camp. Simply put: She’s iconic.
Larkin Seiple (Cop Car, Swiss Army Man, Kin, Everything Everywhere All at Once) handles cinematography. There are some impressive and cool moments, but every single scene that’s shot in low-lighting is hard to make out. You have to pay attention and focus during these parts if you really want to tell what’s going on. Unfortunately, much of this film takes place in darker areas, so this is a bit of an issue.
Ryan Holladay, Hays Holladay, and Zach Cregger are responsible for the score and nail it out of the park. The score helps to up the tension and fear in scenes, and is often very synth-y. You wouldn’t expect a director to help craft the sonic landscape of his film, but here we are. The score for Weapons is absolutely worth a listen to on its own.
Weapons is ultimately about how people can be manipulated into doing the will of others (often without even realizing that they are doing so). We are all weapons just waiting to be activated. There are also themes concerning how older generations are screwing things over for future generations. It’s incredibly pertinent to what we are experiencing today, and is genuinely terrifying. Weapons is long and deliberately paced, but the horror hits hard, the mystery is incredibly engaging, and the ending is one of the most cathartic we’ve gotten in some time. It’s easily the best horror film of 2025 thus far.
5 STARS
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