You need to go see Weapons. Yes, you. Whether you're a fan of horror or you feel the need to cover your eyes when things get too intense onscreen, it doesn't matter. You don't know me, but you're just going to have to trust me on this one. See it soon before it's spoiled for you, and see it with the biggest crowd possible. Usually I'd save a recommendation like that for the end of the review, but if you want to leave and watch it now, I won't mind. You can read this after you're done.
People complain all the time about the state of the movie industry, and one of the more common grievances is that there are no new ideas. Everything is a sequel, or a remake, or another superhero movie. Studios just aren't giving us enough of a reason to get off our couch and go to the local cinema, or at least that's the prevailing sentiment.
If you've ever said something along those lines, then you owe it to yourself to go see Weapons. This movie will surprise you again and again. It will have you on the edge of your seat. It has phenomenal performances from Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Benedict Wong and others. It has wonderful writing and deft direction from Zach Cregger. It's hilarious, terrifying and gross in equal measure. Its final act will be seared into your brain for a long, long time. If that's not enough for you, then you need to go see Weapons so that I have more people to talk to about this movie. I can't spoil anything in this review, nor would I want to. In fact, I highly recommend that you go in knowing as little as possible, even down to the rest of the casting beyond the main stars.
Thankfully, the only trailer I saw laid the groundwork for what the story was about, but didn't give the whole movie away, as so many trailers do. All I knew is that after the superlative experience of seeing Barbarian in a theater, I was ready for whatever Cregger wanted to throw at me. Already he's one of those guys that if he's directing, I'm in no matter what, and that's not a long list.
I know that I'll be watching Weapons from the supposed comfort of my own home many years from now with the lights turned out and the sound turned up. I say "supposed" because if there's a big theme at play in Weapons, it's that we're never safe, even if we live in a nice home or a nice neighborhood. More frightening, our kids are never truly safe, either. Even if they go to a nice school with nice teachers, that won't be enough to protect them when true evil comes. There's only so much we can do, and as a parent, that's terrifying.
The police in Weapons insist they're doing everything they can to figure out what happened to 17 kids who just up and vanished in the night, but let's just say they're not exactly good at their job. Whether that's a jab at real police or not, I think the movie is telling us that if we want to protect our kids, we can't rely on others to do it for us. It's not only the cops who are a target of that message, as there are other adults littered throughout who could and should be doing something more than the bare minimum but fail miserably, from a teacher allowing a kid that missed the bus to just walk home to a liquor store employee who blames the victim of an attack and kicks her out of his store.
In many ways, the movie feels like a critique on how not only is the older generation failing the younger one, it's an active parasite that is harming those it's supposed to be protecting and helping. Given that in real life we have politicians desperately clinging to power into their 80s and cutting programs that help the most vulnerable among us, all while Gen Z can't even afford to buy a home and start a family, it feels like an apt metaphor. School shootings seem to happen on a weekly basis, and all adults seem to be able to do is offer thoughts and prayers.
Weapons is the product of a director with supreme confidence
I mentioned above that Zach Cregger is on the shortlist of directors who have earned my money, sight unseen. Off the top of my head, I'd put Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan, Jordan Peele and Ryan Coogler on that list, as well. I thought about all four of them at various times while watching this movie. I thought of Tarantino because the movie is divided into chapters that focus on different characters, not unlike Pulp Fiction. I thought of Nolan because there's a character with an uncanny resemblance in one way to Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight. I thought of Peele because there's a rumor going around that he fired his management because they didn't secure the rights for him to produce this movie (after seeing the movie, I totally get it). And I thought of Coogler because Sinners is the only other movie this year that was written and shot with as much confidence as this one.
I wouldn't call Weapons a straight horror movie, though there are some fantastic scares and an overwhelming sense of dread throughout. It's more a thriller with extremely strong horror elements, but honestly, the labels don't matter. They clearly don't matter to Cregger, who very obviously set out with a specific vision of what he wanted to make, and then went out and did it, genre classification be damned.
There's a huge Sam Raimi influence in this movie, but there's also a scene that is like the nightmare, cracked-out version of the end of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. That sounds ridiculous to you now, but I promise you'll understand once the credits pop. Early on it felt like the classic Twilight Zone episode The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street, and for long stretches it felt like the kindred spirit of Longlegs. Call me crazy, but there's a bit of Tangled (yes, the Disney Rapunzel movie) there, too.
Much of this movie takes place in the daytime, but it's not operating on the same wavelength as something like Midsommar. It's a little closer to The Wicker Man, if anything. That being said, darkness is very important to this movie in both a literal and figurative sense, and that's where many of the best shots happen. There are multiple times that a door slowly opens and seconds go by before we see what's coming out of the darkness within. Each time, our patience is rewarded.
The pacing of Weapons was perfect. Right at the outset, we learn that 17 kids ran out their front doors at 2:17 a.m., then we spend the next two hours trying to figure out where they went and why they went there. I love when a movie gives you a taste to start, then slowly builds anticipation for the main course.
Each character's chapter slowly fills in the blanks and takes us deeper and closer to the truth. It really is expertly done. Once we understand who the true villain is and how everything came together, Cregger injects the final act with a no-holds-barred energy that again had me thinking of Tarantino, as so many of his films end in the bloodiest, most explosive, most "turn it to 11" way possible.
In case I haven't made it clear, this is one of the best times at the movies I've had in a long time. My expectations were through the roof, but I guess that doesn't matter when a movie just blows the roof right off. Weapons rocked, and you need to run (preferably with your arms out like an airplane) to see it today. Maybe I'll see you there, because I'm definitely going again.