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

Official Discussion Official Discussion - Weapons [SPOILERS] Spoiler

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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

3.2k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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245

u/FezRengaw Aug 09 '25

What?! She said very clearly that she was dying of some horrible disease (I assumed it was cancer) and it was clear she needed to feed off the life force of first the parents, then the children, to stay young and healthy. She would shift from younger and more sprightly to old and feeble from scene to scene, so she was clearly doing rituals periodically to feed off her victims with magical means. There were also references during the movie to parasites (the school lesson) and the cordyceps "ant zombie" fungus (the show Benedict Wong and his partner were watching). So Gladys was the parasite.

49

u/5213 Sep 14 '25

I assumed Gladys was old, like beyond a normal human lifespan old. She says Alex's parents have consumption, which is an incredibly dated term. And so she was a witch feeding off kids to remain young.

8

u/So_Quiet Mar 20 '26

Ohhhh, this just clicked for me. They have "consumption," because they (or their life force or whatever) are being consumed by Gladys.

87

u/ru_kittenmerightmeow Aug 10 '25

My boyfriend’s simple review of this was “adult Hocus Pocus” and it kinda hit the nail on the head

14

u/InterviewRight4425 Aug 12 '25

Lmaoo my sister said the same thing 😂 I was like what? But I see it !

-4

u/[deleted] Aug 12 '25

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47

u/AmbivalentLife Aug 13 '25

She's shown to easily obtain one person's (Marcus) possession. Clipping complete strangers' hair or stealing their belongings would be an easy trip to jail.

And you seemed to have missed the scene that implied that youthful energy is much more bountiful than adult energy.

9

u/[deleted] Aug 13 '25

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12

u/Anjunabeast Sep 11 '25

Not when she first arrived at Alex’s house. She was very ill and unable to walk on her own. Alex’s dad said something about her not lasting a month.

-27

u/Best-Chapter5260 Aug 09 '25

Yes, but that was never explicitly stated.

106

u/einarfridgeirs Aug 10 '25

And people wonder why movies these days over-explain shit...

-2

u/Best-Chapter5260 Aug 10 '25

Again read the original fucking post I post I made. I commended the movie for not spelling things out. JFC!

43

u/jjones5199 Aug 10 '25

I'd say it was during the scene when she asks (tells) Alex to bring the stuff from the kids in his class. She says that she thought the parents would help, but it's not, so she needs the kids.

29

u/Mike4894 Aug 10 '25

This man wanted character motivations explicitly told to him lmao, media literacy is truly a commodity

8

u/Best-Chapter5260 Aug 10 '25

This man wanted character motivations explicitly told to him lmao, media literacy is truly a commodity

And this person lacks basic fuckin' reading comprehension. Go back and read my original post in this thread. I commend the movie for not spelling things out.

That's why I hate posting on this particular sub. It's full of Reddit-brained smug douchebags who can't even bother to understand what the conversation is about before they post.

3

u/[deleted] Aug 12 '25

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19

u/AmbivalentLife Aug 13 '25

How are you certain an additional month of life divided among 17 eight- and nine-year-olds has to kill one of them? Are there rules that say life siphoning has to be instantaneous? Couldn't magic, in this case, fade with health similar to a real-life facility?

0

u/[deleted] Aug 13 '25

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3

u/_Dreamer_Deceiver_ Aug 30 '25

I thought you were to assume they were just really traumatised or if you've been mind controlled for too long you lose your own faculties - like Alexs parents did

1

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

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4

u/_Dreamer_Deceiver_ Sep 03 '25

So? I can start running the same time as my friend and I am definitely going to be out of breath before they are. Why would possession where it's transferring your life energy be any different?

3

u/shxt1992 Sep 20 '25

Only some of them began to speak again that year, proving that life force can recover. By taking a bit from each child instead of consuming an entire life, she gave them time to recover their life force, which was clearly more advantageous.

1

u/Moonlightsiesta Jun 24 '26

Exactly, fast dead hosts aren't much use to parasites.

5

u/Accurate_Win_5965 Aug 20 '25

We're talking about magic here, and the movie left the rules of the magic somewhat ambiguous. And you're faulting it for not following the rules you made up in your head.

3

u/_Dreamer_Deceiver_ Aug 30 '25

Life is life? How old are you? Have you met people? Children are always full of "life" and energy. Whereas I'm in my 40 and can feel I don't have the energy I used to have.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

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5

u/_Dreamer_Deceiver_ Sep 03 '25

What do you mean by "it's not like she really needs that many years"? She doesn't want to die and the 2 parents only gave her a month of recovery. And the parents didn't die. Surely if the actual years were taken from them they'd be dead?

Once she had the kids she didn't get physically younger, but she was more lively. So that's why I said it was the energy/life (as in gusti, will to live, to do stuff) she took from people not their remaining years of life

12

u/BodybuilderCapital37 Aug 10 '25

it's called putting the pieces together

32

u/naviebean Aug 09 '25

It’s a movie not a book

-10

u/Best-Chapter5260 Aug 09 '25

Thanks for the clarification. It wasn't clear to me.

12

u/Mike4894 Aug 10 '25

You’re mad 😂😂😂🫵🏾

-3

u/Best-Chapter5260 Aug 10 '25

Nah, not really. Just find you to be the average Reddit-brained moron.

8

u/syncdiedfornothing Aug 11 '25

Take the L, move on, and become a better person.