For the horror and serious film hounds. Check it out ASAP.
Right now Hollywood is in a moment where they’re realizing that audiences don’t like $250 million mega blockbuster films that fit every piece together in a forgettable fashion. Those movies will never go away, as they’re guaranteed bank, but right now, the Hollywood elites are seeing something that happened a little over 30 years ago: The rise of low to moderately priced good movies.
Yes, for the last decade or so, we’ve seen countless adventures starring a who’s who of celebrities going through hijinks, thwarted by a guy who wants to take over the world for a reason, only to be stopped by something at the zero hour. However, it looks like the tide is turning in a direction that happened in the early 90’s when Quentin Tarantino dropped Reservoir Dogs. I, for one, am thrilled to see this happen and am excited to see what the future brings. Although I love movies, let’s let the grown ups do some talking for a little.
Weapons starts out with a punch to the gut, doesn’t let up and delivers some wonderful acting in an old-school Rashomon fashion of one terrifying event.
Julia Garner as Justine wondering where the children went.
At 2:17 am, all the children in Justine’s (Julia Garner) elementary class woke up and ran out of their home and vanished. All, but Alex (Cary Christopher). After the police question Alex and come up with nothing, the police are left with no leads, explanations or reasons why all the kids would run away.
In the small close knit town of Maybrook, Pa., things like this just don’t happen. Honestly, where does something like this happen? School, parents and authorities are beyond worried, so in order to clear the air the school has a parent-teacher conference so Justine can talk. Offering no solutions, Archer (Josh Brolin), whose son Matthew (Luke Speakman) was one of the missing children, is convinced Justine knows what happened and is using his tools of constructional engineering to figure it out.
Paul (Alden Ehrenreich) is a police officer having an affair with Justine. Though he loves his wife (who is desperate to start a family), for some reason, he can’t leave Justine alone. After a night of drinking and cheating, Paul goes on patrol and thwarts local drug addict James (Austin Abrams) from breaking into a store. While searching James, Paul is stuck with a drug needle and Paul punches James in the face. In order to “scare” James from pressing charges (patrol footage will recycle in a month), Paul says that he’s going to let him go on a warning, just never show his face around town again.
James is a horrible person. He steals from anyone to pawn their stuff for drug money; he lies to his family to try to get more money for drugs and his life has led him to a dope den in the woods, drinking, smoking and shooting up until his life eventually ceases to have meaning. While looking for his next place to rob, he notices a house in a nice neighborhood that looks out of place. The homes here look warm, welcoming and friendly. This one is cold, haunting and the windows are covered in newspapers. James notices a window open on the second floor and decides to go in. After snooping around the dark home and getting a few items, he is scared by two adults sitting in a zoned out drug-like daze on a couch, staring right at him. What is going on in this house? Why aren’t the adults here reacting?
Weapons likes to treat its audience as if they were a jury deciding the fate of a murderer. These are the facts, you come to your conclusion. The ending does show beyond a shadow of a doubt what is going on, but the case leading up to the violent and hilarious verdict is not directly known until it has to be.
Writer/director Zach Cregger made a name for himself back in 2007 when he was the head writer and actor for the sketch comedy show The Whitest Kids U’Know. During the early renegade days of the 2000’s when YouTube pranks were flowing and shows like Jackass were still very much popular, the rebirth of sketch comedy came out. Unlike Monty Python and The Upright Citizens Brigade, U’Know featured something the others didn’t: Handsome men and good looking women being hilarious. Regardless of what we may think, no one looks at John Cleese or Jane Lynch and thinks sex symbol. Almost immediately U’Know became a hit and launched several comedy careers, including Cregger’s.
Josh Brolin as Archer, demanding answers.
Following the old cliche that funny people have a dark side, it wouldn’t be until 2022’s Barbarian where Cregger would shed his funny bones to drop one of the best horror films in years. The bleak and bonkers story had audiences hungry for more.
When Weapons was announced, it was more of a soft muffle than a roar, and the only promo’s I saw for it was a 2 hour compilation of children running in a Ring Camera app video. As strange and weird as this was, with no explanation I was left clueless. For that, I am very thankful. I knew very little about the movie and loved every minute of it.
The acting is beyond good for anything a movie of this caliber should be. Especially from Julia Garner. Much like Ben Afflek in Gone Girl, audiences are led down one path, only to see things from another perspective. The arc Justine goes through is in the same vein as Sky Riley (Naomi Scott) in Smile 2. You want to believe her story, but with a character so riddled with flaws, can you believe them? Benedict Wong as the trusting but realistic principal Marcus, tries to hold together his falling apart school but there is only so much you can do when you can’t point to a solution. Josh Brolin’s Archer, much like his profession as a constructional engineer, is the driving force behind finding the missing kids. There has to be a reason why they would all leave. And what were they running to or from?
To call Weapons a horror film would be waving away the dramatic elements. Simply calling it a “drama” or “suspense” limits the perception of horror. Cregger becomes the ventriloquist, and we, the audience, become a metaphorical dummy. Blindly sitting in the dark, wondering which string will be pulled next that will cause us to jump, move or gasp in amazement.
The film is scary, funny, action-packed, mysterious and sophisticated. It’s not dumbed down or riddled with obvious red herrings. What Cregger does hasn’t been seen in cinemas for a long time. Finally, or at least thankfully, a movie made for adults.
Weapons is now showing in theaters
Written and directed by Zach Cregger
Stars: Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, Cary Christopher, Benedict Wong, Austin Abrams and Amy Madigan
Genre: Drama, mystery, horror
Runtime: 128 mins
Rated: R
Classic American Movies 
Leave a comment