{"id":12762,"date":"2025-08-08T16:53:36","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T20:53:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=12762"},"modified":"2025-09-30T22:29:36","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T02:29:36","slug":"weapons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/08\/08\/weapons\/","title":{"rendered":"Weapons"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Weapons<\/strong> (2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New Line (through Warner Bros.)\/Horror-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 128 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong bloody violence and grisly images, language throughout, some sexual content, drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Zach Cregger\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Zach Cregger\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Zach Cregger, Hays Holladay and Ryan Holladay\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Larkin Seiple\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: August 8, 2025 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Benedict Wong, Cary Christopher, Amy Madigan, Toby Huss, June Diane Raphael, Whitmer Thomas, Callie Schuttera, Clayton Farris, Justin Long, Sara Paxton, Luke Speakman, Melissa Ponzio, Scarlett Sher.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0Can we just go ahead and bestow the label \u201cMaster of Horror\u201d on Zach Cregger? Only two movies in, the writer-director has already proven he\u2019s got the gift. Three years ago, he frightened audiences with the truly freaky #MeToo allegory Barbarian. That\u2019s a tough act to follow, but he manages it quite effectively with Weapons<\/strong>, a multi-narrative piece that takes a nightmare scenario into uncharted territory. It grabs you at the start with an eerie sequence set to George Harrison\u2019s haunting \u201cBeware of Darkness\u201d and doesn\u2019t let go for a shade over two hours.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Cregger knows what scares people. In this case, he\u2019s out to get parents of school-age children. Nothing scares a parent more than losing a child whether it\u2019s to a school shooting, stranger abduction or even worse, they go missing without an explanation. That\u2019s the case here. One night at exactly 2:17AM, several third graders get out of bed, leave their homes and disappear into the dark. Nobody knows what happened to the kids, all of whom are in the same class at school. Their teacher Justine Gandy (Garner, Ozark), an alcoholic with a questionable history, falls under suspicion as does the only kid who didn\u2019t vanish, a quiet boy named Alex (Christopher, Days of Our Lives). Justine, like everybody else in town, wants answers.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It would have been one thing for Cregger to follow a traditional story arc by having Justine play detective in a search for answers. That\u2019s too ordinary for him. Instead, he shifts his attention to another character, grieving dad Archer (Brolin, Dune). He, like the other parents, holds Justine responsible for his son\u2019s disappearance. He doesn\u2019t think the police are doing all they can to find out what happened so he starts his own investigation.<\/p>\n

\u00a0From there, we watch the story unfold from the perspectives of other characters: Paul (Ehrenreich, Cocaine Bear), a cop fighting his own personal demons; homeless drug addict James (Abrams, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark) and school principal Andrew (Wong, Doctor Strange). Their stories overlap adding context to previous events. It all leads to a wild conclusion.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Before I start talking about the movie, I\u2019d like to give the trailer for Weapons<\/strong> a special mention. It doesn\u2019t give away the whole movie as has been the trend for far too long. It gives you the premise and a few scattered shots, that\u2019s it. It\u2019s enough to get the viewer intrigued. That was the general feeling among those in attendance at the Thursday night preview. They loved the trailer and wanted to know the reason for the strange goings-on in the film. They had no clue where the story would go. I had a theory of my own, but it was wrong. In any event, the marketing team at Warner got it right this time. Let this serve as a template for future trailers. Less is always more.<\/p>\n

\u00a0WOW! That was my reaction to Weapons<\/strong>. That is<\/em> my reaction to Weapons<\/strong>. It\u2019s great! Cregger hits the ground running and keeps up the pace throughout with a story that\u2019s both scary and compelling. He takes his time connecting all the dots, building suspense and anticipation. He gives us well-written characters that aren\u2019t just warm bodies taking up space. Justine, in addition to being an alcoholic and a homewrecker, has a troubled work history. She was fired from her previous teaching gig for inappropriate behavior (NOT that!). She cares about her kids a little too much, showing a level of concern that bothers some. She wants to talk to Alex about what happened, but she\u2019s told to keep her distance. She\u2019s having a tough time too, but nobody seems especially concerned about her.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Cregger affords this same treatment to all. Paul isn\u2019t just some dumb small-town cop. He has issues like drinking and a quick temper, the latter of which puts him in hot water after an arrest goes south. Thankfully, the director doesn\u2019t try to turn this into some kind of social statement. The arrestee is white; that much I\u2019ll tell you.<\/p>\n

\u00a0All this character development would be for naught if not for the more-than-capable ensemble cast. They work well individually and as a team. Garner displays vulnerability as the young well-meaning teacher villainized by the townspeople. Brolin is great as the one parent who takes action in the search for the truth. Ehrenreich wisely avoids playing the cliched bad cop; instead, he\u2019s a cop with a messy personal life, a fact that affects his job performance. Wong plays his character as slightly off-center. He\u2019s a bit of an oddball.<\/p>\n

\u00a0On a technical level, Weapons<\/strong> scores an A+. It\u2019s thick with atmosphere and dread thanks to the fine work of cinematographer Larkin Seiple (Everything Everywhere All at Once) and editor Joe Murphy (Barbarian). The fluid camera work is especially impressive; it dazzles without distracting from the storytelling. The gore effects, a mix of practical and CGI, are awesome! This is one bloody movie. When somebody gets hit by a car, it\u2019s a real mess. Cregger conducts the film\u2019s visual aspects like it\u2019s a symphony which it really is. Everything comes together to form a near-perfect whole.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I can\u2019t say enough good things about Weapons<\/strong>. It really is that good…. I mean, great. It\u2019s the kind of film that makes summer moviegoing pleasurable. It\u2019s scary, unsettling, sometimes darkly funny and always entertaining. It doesn\u2019t get any better than that.\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Weapons (2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New Line (through Warner Bros.)\/Horror-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 128 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong bloody violence and grisly images, language throughout, some sexual content, drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Zach Cregger\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Zach Cregger\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Zach Cregger, Hays Holladay and Ryan Holladay\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Larkin Seiple\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: August 8, 2025 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12763,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-horror"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Weapons-POSTER.jpg?fit=620%2C775&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12762"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12765,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12762\/revisions\/12765"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}