Weapons Movie Review

As of the release of “Weapons” — Rotten Tomatoes has a Certified Fresh rating of 96% from all critic reviews! This one of the highest ratings for a Horror genre movie.

“Weapons” takes a look into a dark event in a small town and exposes the grief and fear that live in the shadows. After the disappearance of 17 young school kids one night, accusations and rumors run rampant. If the truth is uncovered, will anyone be able to recover?

 

This is just a normal suburban town with a close-knit community and school called Maybrook Elementary. There is young voice that tells us this is true story (ahem…) and it happened just as it gets told.

 

The school Principal a warm and caring man named Andrew Marcus (played by Benedict Wong). There is a fifth-grade teacher named Justine Gandy (played by Julia Garner). She is an introverted type, but she pours her heart out to the students.

 

But the students are fine, just the typical rowdy bunch of grade school kids. Justine notices that one student has become much more quite and reserved than before. This is a kid named Alex Lilly (played by Cary Christopher).

 

Perhaps something has changed with his home life, but he will not say anything is wrong. He does not say too much of anything anymore. But there doesn’t seem to be any reason to worry. There is nothing much that can change.

 

Everything changes the next day that Justine walks into the classroom. It is empty, all except for one student. It is Alex who is sitting there alone. All of the other 17 students in Justine’s class are not at school.

 

As it turns out, they are not at home either. Panic ensues after it is found that all 17 of the classmates got up at 2:17 AM this morning, went out the front door, and took off running for parts unknown.

 

The school is shut down for a short amount of time. Local authorities come in to question all the people at the school. Principal Marcus has no answers about the missing children. Justine Gandy is questioned, but she knows nothing about their whereabouts.

 

Even young Alex Lilly is asked about what he might know. But there are only questions and no answers. At an open school meeting, many parents are concerned that not enough is being done.

 

One of the folks who speak up is Archer Graff (played by Josh Brolin). His son is missing, and he thinks Justine knows what is going on. She speaks up, but there is too much doubt in the room. Nobody wants her to be around the school anymore. She is forced by Principal Marcus to stay home and stay away from Alex.

 

Justine spends her free time drinking, and she begins stalking young Alex Lilly. Archer spends much of his time stalking Justine. Everyone is in a heightened state of alert. Somebody vandalizes Justine’s car, and writes the work “WITCH” in red paint.

 

Justine contacts an old boyfriend, who is now a police man, named Paul Morgan (played by Alden Ehrenreich). He has since broken up with Justine and gotten married. These two used to drink quite a lot and had been lovers. Paul and Justine hook-up for a night, just like old times.

 

Officer Paul Morgan is glad to get back on the job, where things will be peaceful and quiet. But, he sees some ruffian in an alley, and he gives chase. Paul finds this homeless drug-addicted thief, named Anthony (played by Austin Abrams).

 

He loses his temper and smacks Anthony. But then Paul wants to let him go, so he will not get Paul into trouble. Anthony breaks into a home with some very strange things inside. He thinks he might be able to cash in on some type of reward.

 

Alex has spent all this past month going back to school. It was a month ago since the classmates left in the night. But it was also about the same time he found out about an unusual house guest. It is his Aunt Gladys (played by Amy Madigan). Things have been a little strange at his house since then, but Alex has remained quiet.

 

Justine stops at a gas station. She is confronted by Archer, who has stopped to try and talk to her and get answers. There is somebody else who sees Justine stopped at the gas station. But this other person is not there to talk to her. This person is more of a mindless shell of a person — now on a mission to attack and kill. Archer steps in to help, but the obsessed man will not stop.

 

Something very unusual is going on, and it is now spreading wider and farther. Whatever circumstance has caused 17 children to go missing might now also be behind this ‘warm and caring man’ to become a crazed killer. Justine is able to drive away, and the chase comes to bloddy end.

 

Justine survives and Archer wants to have someone who can help in his research about what happened that night. Maybe, Archer says, if they can narrow it down to a single place or a single person — they will be able to put all the puzzle pieces together.

 

Officer Paul happens to see Anthony once again. Paul had threatened Anthony to never come around any more. But Anthony seems to think he might know the answers to some of the questions. Justine thinks that the children all were headed to one place. Paul and Anthony are already at that place, so it will be race to see who can find out the answers first.

 

Will some random chances bring a whole group of these affected people back together for a final confrontation? Will there be any answers to these mysteries? Or will there be some conclusion to the odd circumstances that have put the entire town into the tailspin? In the course of searching for the truth, have these people uncovered a larger form of evil?

 

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“Weapons” is a movie that is locked and loaded, and it has a hair-pin trigger. Zach Cregger developed his prior (and first) movie “Barbarian” as a slow decline into the madness. That movie started as a house rental mishap that turned into the “House of Horrors: Basement Edition”.

 

With this movie, you are slammed into the deep end within the first half hour. The unexplained tragic event has the whole town ill at ease. He examines a couple of days that happen a month after the 2:17 AM event. Then, he retells the same days – but from the perspective of a number of different people.

 

This allows each major actor to get a decent amount of time to develop into a more realistic character.  Julia Garner (as Justine) gets a chance to reflect on the events. Then Josh Brolin (as Archer), and Alden Ehrenreich (as Officer Paul), and even Austin Abrams (as Anthony) all get a segment that explains things from their viewpoint.

 

The dark atmosphere and thick tension are always present. It makes for some jittery scenes that sometimes end up with a jump cut scare.  But these scenes will sometimes meander into a weird comedic action. So, it keeps you on your toes. The sound mixing and the sound track also add to the fear factor. Several affected characters are brought closer, sometime with combustive results.

 

“Weapons” is a tense and wild ride into a nightmare experience. There are some deadly twists and turns. It takes direct aim at your heart and soul – then fires away…