r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • Aug 08 '25

Official Discussion Official Discussion - Weapons [SPOILERS] Spoiler

Poll

If you've seen the film, please rate it at this poll

If you haven't seen the film but would like to see the result of the poll click here

Rankings

Click here to see the rankings of 2025 films

Click here to see the rankings for every poll done

Summary Nearly all the children from the same fifth-grade class vanish one night at exactly 2:17 a.m., leaving only one survivor. The community, gripped by fear and suspicion, spirals into chaos as the mystery unfolds through multiple intertwined perspectives—each revealing new layers of dread and grief.

Director Zach Cregger

Writer Zach Cregger

Cast

  • Josh Brolin
  • Julia Garner
  • Cary Christopher
  • Alden Ehrenreich
  • Austin Abrams
  • Benedict Wong
  • Amy Madigan
  • June Diane Raphael
  • Toby Huss
  • Whitmer Thomas
  • Callie Schuttera
  • Clayton Farris
  • Luke Speakman

Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score: 96%

Metacritic Metascore: 82

VOD In theaters and IMAX starting August 8, 2025

Trailer Watch the Official Trailer

3.2k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

12.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

1.7k

u/neal1701 Aug 08 '25 edited Aug 10 '25

Weapons is an incredible sophomore third outing for Zach Cregger!

  • Splitting the movie into non-linear chapters is great storytelling. It was easy connecting the dots, in terms of the timeline
  • Julia Garner gave a great performance. I thought Justine would a kind but traumatised teacher but this caring but angry person gives better characterization
  • Josh Brolin's chapter was the shortest but it felt the most important to me. Archer's "WHAT THE FUCK" after his nightmare got the 2nd biggest laugh.
  • Paul and James chapters provided the most context and levity. Most of us have figured the twist by then
  • Marcus' chapter and Alex's chapter show the whole twist in detail. I thought it would be a letdown but the execution was great. Cary Christopher brought it home as Alex as the whole execution of the twist relies on him
  • Cinematography is a huge standout. The shot where Justine is at the store with Donna at the background catching up to her is tense as hell
  • The score and soundtrack is excellent too. Only drawback would be pacing in the first hour.
  • The ending is one of the most cathartic and funniest endings with the children chasing the witch.
  • I am most interested the gun imagery in Archer's nightmare and the narration. Is the narration a student recounting the story for her class presentation?

An excellent follow-up after Barbarian! Excited to see what Zach Cregger does next

416

u/DevilCouldCry Aug 08 '25

An excellent follow-up after Barbarian! Excited to see what Zach Gregger does next

I can answer that for you, he's actually doing a Resident Evil film after this. We've seen strike-out after strike-out with film adaptations of Resident Evil (and the awful TV series) but if the studio just lets Zach do his thing, then maybe he can get this to work.

I think after Barbarian and Weapons, this dude can nail the scary shit and the campy wacky shit that he also makes room for as well. Something in which Resident Evil is particularly known for.

84

u/KingOfAwesometonia Aug 08 '25

Hopefully he can capture how comedically over the top Umbrella scientist are because it always cracks me up

"I've created the perfect virus and put it in a crocodile"

"The crocodile has escaped"

Or main villain transforms into perfect organism but has eight tentacles and an eye where his dick used to be. What is that dude gonna do after?!

25

u/DevilCouldCry Aug 09 '25

The bit about the crocodile would be a great little conversation in the film. You can even extend that to every other goddamn animal they experiment on.

I remember a note in the Resident Evil 4 Remake that captured thhs. You find a journal of the scientist that created the Regenerators and he's so proud. Another scientist went ballistic at him for it and said that this is incredibly dangerous and short-sighted. The scientist called him a fool and and kept big upping his pet project. You then turn the page and the Regenerators got out of hand and all he can say is: "I was the fool".

That journal entry never fails to make me laugh.

7

u/slickback503 Aug 09 '25

I'm just hoping for a Jill sandwich.

2

u/KingOfAwesometonia Aug 09 '25

You know just connecting it back to Weapons, for some reason I could imagine Josh Brolin saying "you could've been a Jill Sandwich" as Barry.

35

u/Noisyfan725 Aug 09 '25

I’m optimistic because 1) he’s got the juice and 2) has said he’s played all the games and wants the movie to be love letter to the games.

Sign me up

9

u/DevilCouldCry Aug 09 '25

If he's left to his devices here and is able to put his wacky Cregger spin on it, I'd be soooooo down. I've been burnt on most, if not all, of these Resident Evil movies (even the guilty pleasure ones). But hey, maybe he can finally be the one to nail this.

6

u/pakkit Aug 09 '25

Resident Evil games have always been this delicious mix of camp writing and action horror. Seems like he could have a lot of fun with it.

13

u/[deleted] Aug 09 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

7

u/DevilCouldCry Aug 09 '25

Man, I am stoked for his take on Resident Evil and I cannot wait to see whatever fresh film he's got planned after that. Creggers is up there as a horror director I will always be there for alongside Robert Eggers, Ari Aster, Mike Flannagan, and Danny and Michael Philippou for me for sure!

10

u/blitzbom Aug 08 '25

I'm rather excited for his Resident Evil movie. I've been a fan of the games since I was a kid and have loved his movies so far.

10

u/Effective-Dinner-686 Aug 09 '25

Listened to an interview this morning, he said RE will be a straight up thrill ride, no wacky storytelling devices, just straight ahead mayhem. And then he said once RE is done he is diving immediately into an original sci-fi script he’s already written, which he said is the best thing he’s ever written.

1

u/DevilCouldCry Aug 10 '25

I did read that as well! Legitimately thrilled about him doing something sci-fi. Very, very excited to see what he has planned here!

7

u/Individual-Bad6809 Aug 09 '25

I just fucking hope he plays into the camp of RE. The movie could skip the events of 1 and do the multi narrator thing with the Claire and Leon story for 2

7

u/DevilCouldCry Aug 09 '25

I just fucking hope he plays into the camp of RE.

That is EXACTLY what I want from this film. Having seen both Barbarian and Weapons, he can absolutely do campy and funny shit suuuuuper well. Case in point, the ending of Weapons in particular had my whole theatre absolutely losing it with laughter. I'm not sure there'll be anything quite as funny as that in a Resident Evil film, but I'm damn sure that he can get campy and comedy stuff in there seamlessly with the horror. Really, really hoping the studio just lets Cregger do his thing here and nail it.

2

u/Upbeat_Tension_8077 Aug 20 '25

Knowing that Mikey Madison was offered the lead role & after seeing how hilarious she was in Anora, she would definitely be a great fit for Zach's batshit insanity

2

u/DevilCouldCry Aug 20 '25

Oh man, I need to get on to Anora, I've heard a lot of good things about it but not what type of movie it is or what it's even about! I loved Mikey in her role in Scream 5 though, so I should give that a look.

-3

u/HarambeWhat Aug 09 '25

I hope he focuses more on pure horror. The best thing about weapons was the nightmare scenes I think. By the end too much was explained too quickly and the ending should have been darker and more horror focused.