“Weapons” premiered in theaters on August 8, 2025, bringing an interesting and new perspective to horror. The movie explores the lives of many people in the small town of Maybrook, who all become panicked when every child from the same class, except one, mysteriously vanish from their houses on the same night at the exact same time.
What makes this movie stand out is its unique storytelling structure. This film switches through the perspectives of multiple characters: Justine Gandy (the teacher), Archer Graff (a parent of one of the missing children), Paul Morgan (a police officer), James Anthony (a homeless drug addict), Marcus Miller (the principal) and Alex Lilly (the one child that did not disappear).
I loved how the movie showed all of these different perspectives because the viewer got to see all of the pieces come together through different points of view. This approach helps the viewer understand why certain characters behave the way they do in other people’s storylines, which helps add layers to the plot.
For example, there is a small moment in Justine’s perspective where her and Paul are at a bar. She casually asks him about an injury on his hand, but he brushes it off and the conversation quickly moves on. Later, when the film shifts to Paul’s point of view, we actually get to see what happened to his hand. Moments like that made it satisfying to watch all of the stories connect in different places — leading to the end of the film where all of the characters ended up in the same place and we were able to see all of their storylines and points of view connect.
Some other highlights from the movie include the opening narration by a child, which immediately sets an eerie tone to the film and makes the story feel more real and creepy. The pacing also stood out because there was always something happening, which made the movie more bearable and less boring. I appreciated that the movie showed the police investigation, especially how the missing children were hidden from the police during the house search. This helped add a bit of realism to the story.
There were also aspects in the film that I did not like. The main character, Justine (the teacher), is unlikable and does not listen to advice from anyone, which makes it hard to root for her in any situation. The jumpscares were another weak point. They all happened at night, which is very predictable and makes them far less impactful. The jumpscares also felt forced into scenes that did not seem to matter for the overall plot, though I know they were meant to add spookiness to the film. Honestly, I thought the movie was more of a comedy rather than a horror. Regardless of the fact that I did not find it scary, it is definitely attention-grabbing and action packed.
Zach Cregger, the director of “Weapons,” assembled an amazing cast. Every actor delivered a strong performance and played their parts extremely well. The main cast consists of Julia Garner, Amy Madigan, Josh Brolin, Austin Abrams, Benedict Wong, Alden Ehrenreich, and Cary Christopher. I was specifically impressed with Cary, who plays Alex. At only nine years old, he was very successful in playing a traumatized young boy who is forced to quietly suffer, enduring fear and grief. The cast as a whole did a phenomenal job. I was especially happy to see a cameo from Justin Long- the lead in Zach Cregger’s hit movie, “The Barbarian.”
Overall, the movie was okay. It was a compelling concept and was well-done filming-wise, but the whole plot was revealed quickly and nothing changed throughout the film. The movie also had no major twists or surprises. The trailer really made the movie look a lot better than it was. I probably would not choose to watch this film again.
With that being said, I would give “Weapons” a rating of 2.5/5.
