Weapons (2025) – Setup Is Almost Too Good for Payoff

Weapons was my most anticipated film of 2025. After seeing it, I can say Weapons is the most frustratingly best movie I’ve watched this year. It’s not the film’s fault. The slow-burn, tense setup is so masterfully executed by writer/director Zach Cregger that the payoff never had a chance to live up to the expectations set up in my imagination. I was anticipating something deeper, more emotional, and more pleasantly surprising on the level of The Sixth Sense. Instead, I got something a little less but still better than most movies released in 2025. Oddly enough, I felt the same way about Cregger’s outstanding 2022 feature film debut Barbarian.

Released August 8, Weapons is still in theaters but is available to rent on Amazon Prime and Apple TV. As I write this, the movie has amassed more than $149 million in North American theaters and another $113 million worldwide, making it the 13th highest-grossing film domestically in 2025 so far. Weapons also enjoys glowing critical praise (94% on Rotten Tomatoes) and solid audience approval (85%). I personally enjoyed both Weapons and Barbarian, consider myself a fan of Cregger’s work, and look forward to his next project Resident Evil.

Immersive First Half

As for Weapons, I can’t remember the last time I was as immersed in a movie as much as I was in the first half of this one. In case you don’t know, the plot is simple enough. At 2:17 a.m. one morning, 17 of 18 students from the same class at school mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time. They simply woke up in their homes and ran away into the darkness. Only one student named Alex is spared from whatever happened to his classmates.

First off, what a premise. And secondly, how Cregger slowly reveals the mystery is riveting as he follows the aftermath by telling the story from multiple POVs. There’s the troubled teacher of the class. There’s the angry parent of a missing child. There’s an impulsive police officer. There’s a homeless drug-addicted punk. There’s the school principal. And, of course, there’s the remaining student Alex.

The cast is killer. Julia Garner as the teacher. Josh Brolin as the parent. Alden Ehrenreich as the police officer. Austin Abrams as the drug addict. Benedict Wong as the school principal. Cary Christopher as Alex. All of them knock their roles out of the ballpark. Plus, there’s the unexpectedly creepy performance of Amy Madigan as Gladys, a little-known family member of Alex’s family who comes to stay at their house.

For me, Weapons checks all the boxes for a fun movie-going experience. It has a first-class writer/director, first-class cast, and first-class film score. It’s an original horror film, too. It’s not a sequel, or a remake, or a remake of a remake. And Cregger’s storytelling technique is creative and effective. Plus, the film surprised me. I didn’t guess the twist. I didn’t have any clue what was going on. Why did these children just wake up and run away into the night? Why was Alex the only one in his class who didn’t? I understand why we’re getting the POVs from the teacher and parent, but why are we spending so much time with the police officer and the drug addict? How are they connected? Cregger manages to tie all the threads together.

Why the Frustration?

So, why was I frustrated? I think two reasons. One is the muted response of local law enforcement and the other parents to the disappearances. There’s a tense town hall meeting of school officials and the families, but the police chief seemed a little too casual about this unprecedented event. Seventeen young children disappeared into the night, for criminy’s sake! Where is the FBI? Where are the search parties and helicopters? Where is the frenzied 24/7 media coverage? In fact, the response was so muted I thought maybe the entire community was involved in the disappearances. The teacher played by Garner and the parent played by Brolin seemed like the only ones passionately dedicated to solving the tragic mystery.

Now, if you interpret Weapons as an allegory for the almost matter-of-fact way that we as a society react to school shootings nowadays, that could explain the low-key response. The school-shooting theory also gains more traction when you throw in the fact that the children return forever changed by the traumatic event in the film. There’s even a dream sequence that could support that theory, I guess.

To me, if there’s a deeper meaning, it’s perhaps the story’s exploration of grief caused by loss. It shows how we want someone to blame for the loss (the teacher). It shows how we want to find the reason behind the loss (the parent). It shows how we’re willing to behave in ways we wouldn’t normally act to keep from losing the ones we love (Alex). It also shows the part of human nature that wants to benefit from the loss (the drug addict’s desire for the reward money). What’s the meaning of it all? But I digress.

The Other Reason

The other reason for my frustration is why the children disappeared. Ultimately, the success of Weapons hinges on the big reveal, and Cregger delivers a shocker. I never saw it coming. It’s clever, and the ending’s cathartic. Audiences, for the most part, obviously enjoyed it.

I liked it well enough but felt somewhat let down. Like I said, it’s not the film’s fault. I was so impressed by the setup that I simply expected the reveal to hit me harder and deeper emotionally on the level of The Sixth Sense or Frailty, two other films that had similarly phenomenal setups. Don’t get me wrong. Weapons still managed to tap into my emotions, particularly regarding Alex when I realized what the young boy had been dealing with throughout the story.

However, despite the minor letdown due to my elevated expectations, Cregger remains one of the few filmmakers today whose movies I will automatically watch in the theater. I’m still blown away by that scene in Weapons with Alex’s mother, a pair of scissors, and Garner falling asleep in her car while spying on Alex’s house. After watching it, I immediately thought, “Wow, that’s how you do horror right there, kids.” That’s a Top 10 all-time horror scene in my book.

A Couple of Weeks Later …

A couple of weeks after I watched Weapons, my already deep appreciation for the film increased after discussing it with Alyson Faye, one of the best gothic horror writers around today. She’s the author of “The Night Visitor” and many other stories available on Amazon. When I asked for her thoughts, Faye explained, “It reminded me of Russian folk stories and of course Hansel and Gretel and the witch boiling up children to eat in the woods.” While Weapons is firmly grounded in our world, looking at it through the lens of a modern-day fairy tale made me appreciate the movie even more. I do see quite a bit of Grimm in Weapons — and that’s high praise for any horror film.

Weapons (2025) - Setup Is Almost Too Good for Payoff - Malevolentdark

Director: Zach Cregger

Date Created: 1970-01-01 00:33

Editor's Rating:
4