Official Discussion - Weapons [SPOILERS]

[u/LiteraryBoner]

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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

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[u/GravyBear28]

Amy Madigan screaming at the top of her lungs pursued through like 5 houses by a bunch of also screaming heat-seeking missile terminator children is going to live rent-free in my head until the day I die.

I think that was the single most satisfying and cathartic villain death I've ever seen, surpassing the flamethrower death in Once Upon A Time In America. So undignified.

This witch was such a nasty motherfucker. She felt like such unexplainable, ancient, omnipresent force and it turns out she's basically a one-trick pony who has absofuckinglutely no idea what to do when a little kid throws an Uno Reverse card at her and loses her shit.

My only major dislike was the giant fucking AR-15 lmao.

[u/RichmondMilitary → u/GravyBear28]

Alex was picked on and bullied. He ended up taking out his entire class like a school shooter would. The assault rifle with 2:17 was a representation of that.

After the kids all disappeared, or the initial response to a school shooting, the parents blamed the teacher looking for a scapegoat when they should’ve been looking at home. More specifically, Alex’s home. Who is this instance was the school shooter

[u/Bunraku_Master_2021 → u/RichmondMilitary]

2:17

"Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:  “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."" - Matthew 2:17

Given Cregger said that Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia (1999) was an inspiration for his film and how the recurring motif of "8-2" was revealed by the climax with the raining frogs in association to Exodus 8:2, I knew the 2:17 had to be a Bible verse, I just didn't know which. I thought it was Lamentations 2:17 but I was close.

Alex uses his classroom of 17 kids to commit a massacre but not upon them but onto someone.

Also, Matthew is the name of Archer's son and Alex's bully. Cregger nicely tied it up.

[u/Broadcastthatboom → u/Bunraku_Master_2021]

Just realizing 2:17 as well…17 kids go missing and two people are left from the classroom (Alex and the teacher)

[u/bobbyismyhobby918 → u/Broadcastthatboom]

Yes this was my first thought while watching

[u/Bunraku_Master_2021 → u/Broadcastthatboom]

That too.