I’m going to be painfully honest with everyone – I had no real idea what IW as signing up for when I caught “Weapons” on the big screen last week.
In theory, the trailer showed something that did manage to grab my attention.
However, I wasn’t prepared for the actual ride this flick took me on!
Weapons has a small central cast of characters that struggle to make sense of a tragedy yet continuously get in their own way.
The film almost as this bleak comedic aspects at some point and it definitely has an interesting twist at the end, but I feel like you’d have to see it to understand what I’m saying.
And, honestly, I’m still not sure how well I like or dislike this movie – strange, isn’t it?
Weapons is a 2025 American mystery horror film [under discussion] film written, co-produced, and directed by Zach Cregger.
The film stars Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, Benedict Wong, Luke Speakman, and Amy Madigan.
While it clocks in at 128 minutes long, the movie is rated R for strong bloody violence and grisly images, language throughout, some sexual content and drug use.
At 2:17 a.m. in Maybrook, Pennsylvania, 17 children from Justine Gandy’s (Garner) class suddenly flee from their homes and disappear, except for one student, Alex Lilly (Christopher).
A police investigation begins; Alex and Justine are interviewed, but no leads are found.
Nearly a month after the incident, Principal Marcus Miller (Wong) places Justine on leave, as the community suspects her involvement in the children’s disappearance.
Depressed, she turns to alcoholism and seeks comfort from her ex-boyfriend, police officer Paul Morgan (Ehrenreich).
Meanwhile, Archer Graff (Brolin), father of one of the missing children, struggles with his son Matthew’s (Speakman) disappearance.
Graff is frustrated by the police’s ineffective investigation and then commences his own.
Concerned about Alex’s well-being, Justine follows him home one afternoon and finds all of the windows covered in newspaper and Alex’s parents in a hazy state.
She tells Marcus and insists he perform a wellness check.
Justine and Archer end up both dreaming about missing children and an uncanny woman wearing clown-like makeup.
Archer finds that the children ran in the same direction, but is unable to pinpoint the exact destination.
Justine decides to have a stake out at Alex’s house but falls asleep in her car – hours later, a woman exits the house and cuts a lock of Justine’s hair.
Local drug addict James (Abrams) got assaulted by Paul earlier and decides to break into Alex’s house, deducing it is abandoned.
While ransacking the place, he finds Alex’s parents and the missing children in the basement in a catatonic state.
He goes to the police to report, hoping for a reward, but Paul spots him and chases him.
James runs into the woods and sees the woman from Justine and Archer’s nightmares waving at him.
Paul catches James and drives to Alex’s house to investigate, leaving James handcuffed in the car.
Hours later, Paul returns to the car and drags James into the house.
Marcus is visited at school by Alex’s supposed aunt, Gladys (Madigan) who claims she is the family’s caretaker after Alex’s parents have fallen ill.
Things start falling into place once Gladys makes her official introduction into the real world rather than just Justine and Archer’s dreams.
If you’re a horror fan, I think you’ll like this just fine – anyone else might struggle with it.
The good news is that the movie ends on a mostly positive note, so, I’m not expecting any sequels to this one.
