Weapons – Film Review
Reviewed by Harris Dang on the 15th of August 2025
20th Century Studios presents a film by Zach Cregger
Produced by Zach Cregger, Roy Lee, Raphael Margules, J.D. Lifshitz, and Miri Yoon
Starring Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, Benedict Wong, Amy Madigan, Cary Christopher, Austin Abrams, Whitmer Thomas, Callie Schuttera, Toby Huss, June Diane Raphael, and Scarlett Sher (narrator)
Running Time: 129 minutes
Rating: MA15+
Release Date: the 7th of August 2025
Set in a small American town, Weapons tells the story of numerous individuals affected by a town tragedy. Seen through security cameras, numerous children ran out of their homes at exactly 2:17am and mysteriously disappeared without a trace. The story sends the town in an uproar, especially single father Archer Graff (a compellingly seething Josh Brolin). The whole town lays the blame on schoolteacher Justine Gandy (a brilliantly icy yet believable Julia Garner).
There is one remaining student from her class, Alex Lilly (Cary Christopher, delivering a bravura performance), but he claims he is clueless about the disappearances. The tragic aftermath starts a ripple that affects everyone in bizarre, disastrous, and absurdist ways. It proves people will wield what they have to fight for themselves or something bigger.
Weapons is the latest film from director Zach Cregger, who is best known for his solo directorial debut Barbarian (2022) and for being in a comedy troupe Whitest Kids U’ Know (2007). Much like Barbarian, Weapons is a film best savoured without prior knowledge and has immense replay value as Cregger tells his story through character rather than a dense plot.
Cregger brilliantly handles the stark subject matter that collectively veers toward tragic, comic, and pathetically human. Instead of the conventional scare tactics commercial horror cinema embraces, including jittery camera tricks, numerous jump scares, and histrionic overacting, he trusts his audience through long takes, restrained sound, and intricate macabre humour. Exclamations and doubletakes of fear from the actors make fantastic punchlines while the weaponising of household appliances hit their mark thematically and cinematically, including the use of a vegetable peeler.
Speaking of peeling, the film skims through numerous perspectives and viewpoints across its chapters. We see how a widespread tragedy affects people through various lines of social commentary. We see institutions (the apathy, self-serving, and deniability authority figures via education or policing enact), the parents (either obsessing over the case or scapegoating various figures), the indigent (characters profiting off tragedies for survival), and the titular weapons themselves (haunting images through visual and physical embodiment of projectile weapons). Cregger spins these plates without belabouring his point or sounding preachy.
The film delivers immensely on a commercial genre level as Cregger brings the scares, gore, and humour with an assured directorial hand. He is unafraid to be reverent with influences that left a mark on him, particularly Stephen King (the communal feel and time-shifting narrative) and Paul Thomas Anderson (stories with multiple perspectives and absurdist touches).
However, Weapons reaches a climax that polarizes in how it melds tragedy and comedy, particularly when one can overwhelm the other. The actors commit to Cregger’s vision with utter zeal that the conclusion feels cathartic and well-earned. Thankfully, the film has enough on its mind that its dramatic underpinnings still hold water and reward its audience with bowls of replay value.
Overall, Weapons is an ambitious, well-crafted, and expansive horror experience that shows Cregger is a filmmaking force to be reckoned with in cinema. Highly recommended.
Summary: Weapons is an ambitious, well-crafted, and expansive horror experience that shows Cregger is a filmmaking force to be reckoned with in cinema. Highly recommended.
5
Great
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