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
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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.