One of the best films of this, or any summer, is “Weapons,” written, directed and scored by Zach Cregger. Cregger’s previous film “Barbarian” (2022) marked him as a talent to watch. The script for this film went through a bidding war between Universal and Netflix. For a while, Jordan Peele (“Us,” “Get Out,” “Nope”) was in the running to direct.
BOX OFFICE
“Weapons” has already had the biggest opening of a horror movie on a Monday in August history, beating out “The Sixth Sense” ($4.35 million), “Get Out” ($4.1 million) and “28 Days Later” ($2.8 million). New Line Cinema netted $5.2 million, and the film, budgeted at $38 million, has already garnered close to $100 million worldwide ($82 million), with critical word-of-mouth overwhelmingly positive.
MAJOR CAST
The actors in this one are Top Notch. Julia Garner (“Ozark”) portrays Justine Gandy, a teacher at Maybrook Elementary School (grades 1 through 5) in Maybrook, Pennsylvania. Justine’s entire class of 18 students—with the sole exception of Alex Lilly—disappears in the night. We are given the information that “they never came back” in an effective child’s voice-over (Scarlett Sher) opening the film. Log line: “Last night at 2:17 am every child from Mrs. Gandy’s class woke up, got out of bed, went downstairs, opened the front door, walked into the dark …and they never came back.”
The number 217 could reference Matthew 2:17 (“The Slaughter of the Innocents.”) It was also the room number in the Overlook Hotel (Stephen King’s “The Shining”). I was concerned that, like the television series “The Leftovers” (2014, Justin Theroux), we would never get a coherent explanation of how or why these children disappeared. (Rest assured, we do.)
AMY MADIGAN
The cast member getting most of the accolades for her performance is Julia Garner as Justine Gandy. I’d like to put in an equally strong vote for the always-excellent Amy Madigan as Gladys. Madigan’s appearance in “Field of Dreams” is one of her best-known. She was nominated for an Oscar in 1986 as Best Supporting Actress for “Twice in a Lifetime” and has close to 100 acting credits and multiple award nominations for same. A prequel for Gladys? Could happen. [Oddly enough, one of Madigan’s castmates in this film, Alden Ehrenreich (as Paul Morgan) was named after the writer/director of “Field of Dreams,” Phil Alden Robinson, a close friend of Ehrenreich’s parents.]
ALDEN EHRENREICH
Alden Ehrenreach as policeman Paul Morgan in “Weapons.”
Alden Ehrenreich plays police officer Paul Morgan. Ehrenreich rose to fame as Hobie Doyle, the lasso afficionado in the Coen Brothers film “Hail, Caesar” (2016). The 36-year-old has been working since he was discovered by Steven Spielberg at the Bar Mitzvah of a friend of Spielberg’s daughter. He made his feature film debut in Francis Ford Coppola‘s film Tetro (2009), and appeared in Coppola’s subsequent film Twixt (2011). He is very good in his role. There was a big discussion of whether or not Ehrenreich should have a mustache in the film. The ‘stash prevented me from instantly recognizing him. Ehrenreich shared that his ride-alongs with real cops while preparing for the film clinched the yes vote with Director Cregger.
CARY CHRISTOPHER
Cary Christopher plays the sole survivor of the disappearance, Alex Lilly. The young actor is terrific in the part. He is going to be appearing in “High Potential” (a series set to premiere on September 17th) and “Spider-Noir” in 2026. He was as good in his part as Haley Joel was Osment in “The Sixth Sense.”
JULIA GARNER
Julia Garner of “Weapons.”
It is Justine Gandy’s (Julia Garner’s) class that disappears. Portraying the elementary school teacher, Garner carries the entire film on her slim shoulders. “Ozark” fans will be happy to see the talented actress who portrayed Ruth Langmore (2017) return in this one. Her co-star Josh Brolin (“No Country for Old Men”) has been singing her well-deserved praises on late-night television.
It is hard to think of Pedro Pascal instead of Josh Brolin playing Brolin’s part of Archer Graff, who is obsessively searching for his missing son Matthew (Luke Speakman, as a bit of a bully). Pascal left for “The Fantastic Four.” That and other circumstances beyond the filmmaker’s control (a strike, for one) caused Cregger to be forced to recast the film with Brolin (“No Country for Old Men”) in the lead. Pascal seems too debonair and dapper for the role, to me, but “The Last Of Us” speaks to his ability to play a rougher character, so it might have worked. (But it didn’t. Casting Director Allison Jones drew double duty).
SUPPORTING CAST
Others who excel in their smaller parts include Benedict Wong as Marcus, who goes from reasonable school administrator to over-the-top nut job in a horrifyingly bloody sequence, Austin Abrams as James, and the duo of Calle Schuttera as Alex’s Mom and Whitmer Thomas as Alex’s Dad. It’s quite a coup when Justin Long (who was the lead in Cregger’s last film, “Barbarian”) plays a very small part as Gary, a neighbor who shares his doorbell camera footage with Josh Brolin’s character (after his wife has already said no!).
And let’s not forget the mostly uncredited “Weapons” children. Nor the parents of the missing children as they loudly cry out for answers at heated town hall meetings in a psychological profile of crowd psychology (Social Psychology 101).
OTHER CAST
Generally, the casting director doesn’t get a huge shout-out in a review, but Allison Jones (“Lady Bird,” “Barbie”) definitely deserves kudos for “Weapons.” She had to cast this film not once, but two times, after Pascal exited. I constantly see the name John Papsidera as casting director (he drew the task of casting umpteen parts for “Saturday Night”) but Allison Jones deserves plaudits for assembling this truly stellar cast.
Also doing his usual great work was Production Designer Tom Hammock. The surrounding forest and neighboring houses and Alex’s house are such integral parts of setting the spooky mood for the film. I met Hammock at the Chicago International Film Festival in October of 2014 when he had just directed a wonderful apocalyptic thriller entitled “The Well.” He had 25 credits then, but is now at 66 with 44 in Production Design. “The Well” was truly ahead of its time, with water being more valuable than oil and a setting that was near where Hammock grew up in northern California. “The Well” screened at the Chicago International Film Festival and the Los Angeles Film Festival. Hammock has since worked on “Godzilla V. Kong” (2021), “Godzilla: The New Empire” (2024) and “Blindspotting” (2018), among many others. (No idea if “The Well” ever scored a distribution deal, but it doesn’t show up on IMDB. It should, because it was great.)
Cinematographer Larkin Seiple and Editor Joe Murphy also earn well-deserved shout-outs, with Murphy handing the adept time shifts with aplomb.
SCRIPT
Writer/Director Zach Cregger.
For a movie like this to work, the story must involve originality, be cohesive, and have excellent creative execution. All seem present in “Weapons,” thanks to Writer/Director Zach Cregger and the team. Having just watched Joaquin Phoenix’s last film “Eddington” stumble and fall mid-way through, I’d say this one stuck the landing, (Not a “Weapons” misfire.)
The way each character is developed and then left to move on to building the back story of the next character, while ratcheting up tension, was masterful. The plot pin-balls back and forth between characters, but the execution, moving seamlessly between past and present is equally effective. Usually, this requires that characters have different hairstyles or some “signal” for the audience to glom onto, but film editor Joe Murphy has it under control without such audience crutches. Murphy also edited 2022’s “Barbarian.”
SCORE
Cregger gets a credit for helping compose the score, although, in each of his features, the sound effects are often from nature or simply involve no music at all. Thumping sounds. Screams. Pulsing heartbeats (in “Barbarian”)—all are effective. There are some songs (George Harrison’s “Beware of Darkness;” Harry Nilsson’s “Under the Porch,” et. al.), but the use of silence works.
THEMES
Moral ambiguity existed in “Barbarian” with Justin Long’s character. In “Weapons” Cregger delivers a message about the need to place “blame” after a disaster. The teacher whose entire class disappeared is judged and found guilty by the community. Her car is vandalized with the word WITCH scrawled on it in paint. Justine Gandy is in danger of physical violence, which adds to her longstanding drinking problem and gives us increasing psychological terror, as we worry about Justine’s safety in her own house. In this film, just a hand reaching for a doorknob is scary.
Both Miss Gandy (Julia Garner) and policeman Alden Ehrenreich ( Paul Morgan) have substance abuse issues. Josh Brolin’s father may also have failings and be remorseful about his parenting. Comparisons to Jack Nicholson’s door-breaking scenes in “The Shining” will occur during the climactic scenes involving Alex’s parents within the spooky house. That entire climactic house sequence is extremely frightening.
CONCLUSION
This is a very good one. It will be fun watching the direction that Zach Cregger’s work takes next. I could easily see a sequel. Rumors are that they are discussing a “Prequel” for Gladys. If you like this one, check out Cregger’s “Barbarian”(2022) on Neflix before it leaves on August 31st.
As Julia Garner says, in the “Weapons” script, “There’s something very, very wrong going on!” Find out what by seeing this truly entertaining psychological horror film.
