‘Weapons’ Review: A Mind-Boggling Horror Ride

Coming fresh off the 2022 hit Barbarian, director Zach Cregger is back yet again for another horror thriller. Despite his roots in the comedy genre, Cregger has more than proven himself as one of the biggest and most interesting names in horror and with Weapons, it is clear he is not stopping anytime soon.

Weapons follows the town of Maybrook, and when 17 of the children go missing at 2:17AM, the people of the town, including teacher Justine Gandy (Julia Garner), father Archer Graff (Josh Brolin), and police officer Paul Morgan (Alden Ehrenreich), must work together to find the missing children and save the town from something more sinister. 

The film acts as an ensemble piece in the vein of Paul Thomas Anderson’s dramatic epic Magnolia, and whilst Weapons doesn’t reach the “epic” part of the latter, it is clearly inspired by the film. The product? What might be one of the most unconventional horror thrillers, at least in concept, as the execution leaves a little to be desired and the format brings a level of convolution to the plot, the pay-off, and the threat itself. Weapons is like Cregger’s previous film in many ways, but the most similar factor is that both films struggle in the third act. For what it is worth, Weapons at least can score with its ending, whereas Barbarian flailed by the end of its second act.

Weapons introduces LOTS of ideas to play with, perhaps too many. Structured with multiple perspectives (made known by character chapter cards), the movie creates suspense impeccably. I often found myself scared just at the build up to a jumpscare. There are a few red herrings here too that leave the audience at the edge of their seat trying to guess what is happening next, only for these elements to not be addressed (whether intentionally or not). 

At one point in the film, a character dreams of their home, seeing it from the outside as an AK-47 rifle hovers over the house. Embedded into it is an alarm clock, showing the 2:17 time. Ultimately, the scene seems more metaphorical than anything, as nothing there is properly addressed, besides the name drop of the word “weapons” later in the film. It is perhaps this sheer amount of ideas that the film plays with that makes this convoluted, as some aren’t expanded on as succinctly as others, leaving the audience to assemble the pieces. 

But for its few flaws, Weapons is a great movie. Standing out as vehicles of suspense are Julia Garner’s Justine Gandy and Josh Brolin’s Archer Graff, the two characters and actors with the most screentime. Whilst, Brolin’s Graff isn’t tended to as much character wise, Gandy is a compelling and convincing portrayal. Every character brings something to the table in building the dynamic of the town of Maybrook, but if some of these characters were developed more, the film may have been able to splurge. 

Quite scary, at times hilarious, and always mind-boggling, Zach Cregger’s Weapons throws a ton of interesting ideas at the audience but never completely succeeds in tying all these ideas back together in a cohesive manner. Like Barbarian, the film suffers from a weaker third act, but still manages to rise above its predecessor in delivering a shocking but brilliant venture to the cinema. 

Weapons stars Julia Garner as Justine Gandy, Josh Brolin as Archer Graff, Benedict Wong as Marcus, Alden Ehrenreich as Paul Morgan, Austin Abram as James, Amy Madigan as Gladys, and  Cary Christopher Alex. 

Weapons releases in theatres worldwide this Friday. 

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