Weapons is probably one of the most powerful narratives about school violence, that is not explicitly about a school shooting, but focusing solely on the aftermath on its victims in a horror setting to avoid controversy.
Weapons’ features an entire classroom of children, except one, disappearing in the dead of night, leaving their families behind. A small town is then divided on who to blame while looking for answers and a way to heal in the aftermath. Borrowing a bit from the cinematic structure of Barbarian the film shifts through perspectives throughout the runtime, showing not only those directly affected by the tragedy, but those indirectly and how it resonated through the small town. We spend the majority of the time with teacher Justine Gandy (Julia Garner) who’s one those educators “who cares too much” and who is stuck shouldering the majority of the blame in the community, because it was her class that vanished.
Zach Cregger does something interesting here however, by making not just Justine but all of the characters here a bit of a mess, which is amplified by the events in the film. Justine is pit opposite Josh Brolin as Archer Graff, a construction worker and father, who lost his son that night and who believes Justine was behind it.
Weapons uses this plot device of these missing children, to dig into how a traumatic event like this impacts not only a community, but the individuals and its emotional toll. Actually, I might even argue that what happens here with the children being abducted is almost worse than having them murdered, because these parents don’t have that closure and are simply stuck in a state of helplessness and grief, while trying to move on. This trauma has palpable effect on our characters, as they attempt to cope in their own ways, while the film deals out some very real consequences outside of the overarching mystery of the film. Given how we as Americans treat films like a Vox Lux or Magazine Dreams that attempt to tackle and explore this epidemic of violence in our country, its an ingenious tactic removing guns, while still showing the very real consequences to be able to dissect the effects of an event like this without robbing it of the gravity it deserves.
While Cregger does borrow a bit from Barbarian, thankfully he didn’t just crib the structure and the reveal, there’s also some remarkable character work put into these damaged individuals and bringing them to life, while also grounding them. Because after all, this is a horror film and if we don’t care about them or their fates, the narrative doesn’t work. That said, these introspective character moments are punctuated by some pretty great scares and offbeat laughs as the dread is slowly, but surely dialed up throughout the film. This is also thanks to how the mystery is slowly pieced together as different characters deliver their different viewpoints through their shared experiences. This is ominously executed by the always moving and ever vigilante eye of cinematographer Larkin Seiple.
While Weapons functions amazingly well as a horror film, it still has plenty to offer those that decide to dig into its heavier thematic and metaphorical underpinnings. Along with the gore and the gags there’s a deeply moving portrait of grief, survival guilt and addiction that’s there for those looking. Because of Barbarian, the only thing Zach Cregger lacks here is the element of surprise, but you’re still going to be shocked and satiated once the credits roll, especially after a finale that literally left me speechless. I personally didn’t think anything could follow Barbarian, but here we are and this Weapon hits just as hard, surprisingly thematically, along with the horror and the humor you’d expect. Weapons avoids the sophomore slump and IMO cements director Zach Cregger as one of the best new voices out there working in genre today.
I don’t why it’s called “Weapons”.
But the movie held my attention. I wasn’t bored.
Too bad it has nothing to do with guns
It’s titled weapons because people being weaponized