Year of Release: 2025
Director: Zach Cregger
Starring: Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Amy Madigan, Cary Christopher, Benedict Wong, Austin Abrams, June Diane Raphael, Whitmer Thomas, Callie Schuttera, Toby Huss, Sara Paxton, Justin Long, Clayton Farris, Aaron Quick Nelson, Scarlett Sher
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 8
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Synopsis and Review
Following the well received "Barbarian", writer/director Zach Cregger has returned with a more ambitious, and even more effective dark and original story. The film takes place in Maybrook, a town in Pennsylvania, where as the narrator lets us know, seventeen children get up in the middle of the night, and leave their houses. They're all students of Justine Gandy, a discrete and somewhat timid teacher. The police seek their whereabouts, and nothing is uncovered, no bodies are found, nothing is traceable. The principal of the school, Marcus Miller tries to bring parents and teachers together to collectively try to deal with the situation, but the situation quickly escalates as the angry parents hold Justine responsible for what happened, without any proof or reason for doing so. The narrative then focuses on different lead characters of the narrative, starting with Justine, whom we encounter having to resort to drinking to cope with the trauma of the situation. She also hooks up with a married prior boyfriend of hers, a local police officer by the name of Paul. She tries to understand what has happened to all the children by following the only boy who didn't disappear, the quiet and shy Alex. Alex was interviewed by the Police and everyone at school and has no idea where his colleagues are. As Justine continues her investigation, she's accosted by one of the parents of the missing children, Archer Graff. As he's questioning her at a gas station, she's viciously attacked by Marcus, who is intent on killing her (out of nowhere). As the narrative focuses on different characters, including Archer, Paul, James (a local drug addict), Marcus, and Alex, we begin to realize what took place in the days leading to the disappearance of the children, and all the ties that intersect these characters' lives.
"Weapons" is one of those rare films that manages to hold one's attention, by asking a very simple question. What if a collective traumatic event happened in a small community, and there was absolutely no way to figure out what had caused that event? The massive trauma that occurs to these families jumpstarts this narrative, that then takes us on a journey of understanding these singled out characters, but also slowly starts uncovering the nefarious and darkness reasonings that lie beneath all the events that have and are happening. The first two thirds of the film are truly a lesson in being able to create an environment that is primarily one of anguish, and anger, and as the third chapter comes along, and all the pieces start coming together, some additional questions do appear, but the overall darkness of what is taking place becomes both more apparent and disturbing. This is indeed Zach Cregger's version of Paul Thomas Anderson's "Magnolia", in the sense we all get to understand a bit of all these lead characters and why their lives intersect, but with a sinister and supernatural take on it, which eventually dictate their outcomes. Without spoiling what takes place in the narrative, the film is finely crafted in terms of illustrating the context in which these characters exist, and giving just enough dimension to all of them which allows us to understand their plight. The writer/director also provides just enough horrific moments which jolt the film with a certain energy, never gratuitously being overly grotesque. The cast is uniformly fantastic, with Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, Benedict Wong, and Amy Madigan all excelling in their compositions. The production team is equally impeccable, in particular Larkin Seiple's cinematography, Ryan & Hays Holladay (with Zach Cregger)'s score, and Tom Hammock's production design. A very good film worth watching.
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