I remember hearing about this movie last year and hadn't even watched it. It had this kind of buzz and people applauding it. I still didn't get to watch it till this year. After coming across it several times, I went on to watch the trailer. I found out it was a horror and mystery movie, and I think that heightened my curiosity to know what it was about this movie that had all that hype about it. Also, not many horror movies get such applause.
I finally found time and opportunity to watch it sometime earlier this year. The movie “Weapons” stars Julia Garner as Justine Gandy, Amy Madigan as Aunt Gladys, Josh Brolin as Archer Graff, Cary Christopher as Alex Lily, Alden Ehrenreich as Paul Morgan, Benedict Wong as Marcus Miller, Austin Abrams as James and Toby Huss as Ed Locke, written, directed and produced by Zach Cregger.
The horror/mystery movie follows the mysterious disappearance of seventeen children from their homes, all at the same time in one night. What made it more disturbing and yet interesting was that the victims of this mysterious incident were all students of a particular class. All were missing, except one student in the name of Alex Lily. He came to school that day, and so did the class teacher, Justine Gandy, only to find the class empty.
Parents were confused, so was the school and basically everyone else, especially Justine who wasn't just confused, but was dealing hard with the weight of accusations and claims labelled against her by parents, saying she had a hand in it. Archer Graff had the loudest voice in this and wasn't taking it easy. Justine wasn't just overwhelmed by the situation, but was also concerned for her life as she seemed to be endangered because of the angry parents.
Justine was laid off work to ease the tensions and have time for herself too. Alex on the other hand was going through what was supposedly a hard time, entertaining questions from authorities and all that could help in the investigation and search. Justine, not resting decided to gain some information from Alex. Not working, she stalked him, leading her to his house which revealed he was going through some things at home and something was off.
The movie also explored some of the characters’ lives specifically, relating them to the mysterious incident in one way or another, as they got involved. There were Paul, James, Archer, Alex and Justine. That helped to link what could have been some loose ends. Exploring their personal lives and leading up to the incident made it understandable and able to follow. The mystery remained; what made the children leave their houses at midnight, run into the dark, and how could they be located and rescued? Also, who was behind that?
It was understandable to me why the movie had that applause and commendation. It wasn't the normal horror movie that relied on cheap jump scares and gory sights to make it scary. “Weapons” featured a sense of dread, unease and a continuous feeling of terror. It isn't the very scary horror movie you'll find but Zach Cregger did well going that unusual route. I think that contributed to the good remarks the movie has received and how enjoyable it is to many.
The plot employed specific details of particular characters that have a connection in a way to the incident, either caught in it or solving it, which did more to the story. The suburban town setting makes sense for a movie where several children suddenly went missing at an odd hour. I must also commend the actors for playing their roles well. At first, the movie didn't seem like the hype to me, but looking at it and understanding it more, and how different it is from normal horror movies made me see otherwise. It's a good watch.
Rating: 80/100
Originally posted through scrobble.life/movies.
