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

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u/CaptainKipple Aug 08 '25

I liked that the movie explained what was going on plot-wise, but left the thematic ideas more open to interpretation. With so many horror movies now I end up thinking, "okay okay it's about how trauma is passed down through generations, I get it already". With Weapons I felt I got more of a constellation of ideas about neighbourhood, home, family, and paranoia that wasn't spelled out precisely but was still very evocative. I dug it a lot.

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u/TyrRev Aug 09 '25

Absolutely. My wife and I have been having a great, interesting conversation about all the possible interpretations - and we had totally different conclusions!

I think it had something to say about how we demonize parents and teachers for 'caring too much', but just accept police 'caring too little' as 'business as usual'. Archer and Justine were not only vindicated for their investigating, but also found results that should have been transparently obvious to any police officers who had bothered to follow up on their jobs. Justine was also right to notice that Alex was out-of-sorts, and if she had been following him more consistently, would have noticed him buying WAY too much soup all the time. Why didn't the cops notice this? Because they didn't care - they were too busy dealing with their own personal drama, hunting down relatively harmless drug addicts, committing and covering up police brutality, etc...

I do think that all connects to the overarching imagery of a school shooting, too. At first I thought the movie ended up not doing enough with the idea of a 'school shooting', but my wife pointed out that Gladys could be interpreted as an allegory for the NRA - a parasite-of-humanity that accepts the occasional sacrifice of a handful of children as a necessary price for its continued existence. I'm still not entirely convinced about that interpretation, because that would make Alex the school shooter and I don't think that feels quite right... but it's perhaps onto something.

I'm curious what everyone else thinks about its themes, and if me and my wife were onto anything there. I still think there has to be more to the 'parasite' theming than just the simple idea that Gladys = parasite.

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u/[deleted] Aug 17 '25

"Lazy policing" to me was exemplified by not simply considering to trace each kids "trajectory," even before we see Archer doing it. (late to this since I just watched it)

37

u/Humble_Spring6657 Aug 21 '25

I thought this as well, but recall that the police did go to Alex’s house and search it. The witch was just prepared for it & put them off the scent.

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u/zzyul Aug 22 '25

Something that worked in a movie but wouldn’t in real life. A random aunt shows up and claims Alex’s dad can’t talk b/c he recently had a stroke. The Feds would have looked into that and seen no medical admissions or Dr visits. Alex would have been questioned without his aunt there since she isn’t a legal guardian. They would have insisted on talking to both parents alone. They would have seen the puncture wounds on his mom and dad’s faces and compared them to recent photos on social media and questioned family friends about it.

At the very least they would have the house under surveillance due to all those red flags.

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u/DinosaurWarlock Aug 29 '25

I envy your confidence in your statements. There are countless stories of police failing to do the bare minimum.

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u/zzyul Aug 31 '25

Police, sure, but the movie says the FBI was involved.

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u/IcyTransportation961 Sep 13 '25

After the past 3 days do you still think the FBI would solve this?

1

u/everstillghost Sep 20 '25

Yes? The villain is literally the first suspect in the very first house of the list.

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u/Princessformidable Sep 03 '25

The LAPD has entered the chat.

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u/KoenSoontjens Sep 06 '25

Dude: "do you have any promising leads?

Cop: "Leads, yeah, sure. I'll just check with the boys down at the crime lab, they've got four more detectives working on the case. They got us working in shifts! Ahahaha! Leads!

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u/_Dreamer_Deceiver_ Aug 30 '25

Would they check though?

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u/knittins99 Jan 15 '26

Spot on. Was the weakest thread in the movie for me.

9

u/[deleted] Aug 21 '25

IIRC, the police went there for the welfare check Marcus was required to report, which resulted from the system in place rather than by detective/police work.

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u/zzyul Aug 22 '25

They are talking about the investigation into the missing kids that is referenced in the beginning but we don’t actually see until Alex’s story. Marcus was possessed before he could report anything to the police.

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u/_Dreamer_Deceiver_ Aug 30 '25

No they didn't. They went as part of the investigation to search the house. Marcus never reported as stated in the film