WEAPONS (2025)

Genre: Suspense/Thriller
Director: Zach Cregger
Cast: Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, Benedict Wong 
Runtime: 2 hr 8 mins
Rating: M18 (Strong Violence)
Released By: Warner Bros
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 7 August 2025

Synopsis: When all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance.

Movie Review:

Few movies earn the right to keep their cards close to their chests, and the fact that ‘Weapons’ does so speaks to its utter and absolute brilliance.

How often do you realise that what you know about a movie goes as far as its prologue? That is what one finds out in the opening few minutes of ‘Weapons’ – narrated by an unseen child, it claims to tell a “true story” of an incident from the fictional Eastern suburb of Marybrook, when at exactly 2:17 a.m., all but one of the 18 children in Justine Grady’s third grade class got up from their beds, opened the front door of their houses, and ran off into the night with their arms outstretched.

Unfolding like a well-layered mystery, ‘Weapons’ begins a month after their disappearance, with the parents of the children engulfed in panic and paranoia. As one of the parents challenges the principal during the school’s counselling session, the question on their minds is why it had happened to the kids in Justine's class alone. Even as she deals with the parents' anger and confusion, Justine (Julia Garner) is equally determined to get answers.

So too is local contractor Archer (Josh Brolin), whose frustration at the pace at which the local police are investigating the case leads him to mount his own search for answers, by reviewing the doorcam footage from other houses to try to triangulate just where the children might be running off to. We won’t spoil the surprise for you, but let’s just say that while both start off as antagonists, Justine and Archer soon become unlikely allies to uncover the larger evil that threatens to take over their town.

Besides Justine and Archer, there are four other characters who form the emphasis of six respective discrete but interconnected chapters. These include Paul (Alden Ehrenreich), a recovering-alcoholic cop who happens to be Justine’s ex but is now married to the police chief’s daughter; James (Austin Abrams), a drifter who gets by selling whatever he can steal to get money for his drug habit; Marcus (Benedict Wong), the gentle, mild-mannered principal who gets caught up unexpectedly in a deadly tangent; and last but not least, Alex (Cary Chistopher), the one remaining kid who has been spared for reasons we will find out in the last half hour.

As with his superb debut ‘Barbarian’, writer/director Zach Cregger unspools the story like a slow-burn – here, each chapter ends on the equivalent of a cliffhanger, ratcheting up the intrigue before giving way to a massive payoff that masterfully blends horror and comedy. It is credit to Cregger’s careful, well-structured plotting that the non-linear storytelling never does come off gimmicky; instead, each chapter builds on the preceding one wonderfully, with simple and seemingly random details paying off meaningfully for the attentive viewer.

Some may no doubt be tempted to try to find deeper meaning in this high-concept experiment, whether likening it to a meditation on grief, loss and trauma or even a genre riff on Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘Magnolia’ (which Cregger has mentioned that he was partially inspired by); but even on its own as a tightly wound mystery, ‘Weapons’ is richly satisfying as a masterclass in atmosphere, suspense and tension-and-release. It is – we dare say – a significant step-up from ‘Barbarian’, and for Cregger, reinforces the once-comedian as a master of horror.

Movie Rating:

(Carefully constructed with a bit-by-bit buildup that gives way to a massive payoff, this original horror mystery is a masterclass in atmosphere, suspense, and tension-and-release)

Review by Gabriel Chong