Weapons (2025)

Weapons frustrated me because I can see exactly why people would be excited by the premise. A classroom full of children disappears into the night, and the adults left behind are desperately trying to figure out what happened. That's an unsettling setup with a lot of possibilities. The marketing sold it as something mysterious and deeply creepy, and the early sections do have a few moments that work. Unfortunately, the longer it went, the less interested I became in where it was taking me.

I had a similar reaction to Zach Cregger's Barbarian. Both movies start with an interesting sense of unease, then move into territory that changes the experience so much that I feel like I'm watching a different film. I know plenty of people enjoy that approach, and I can understand why it might appeal to them. For me, the shift undercuts much of what made the beginning compelling.

There are good performances here. Julia Garner and Josh Brolin are strong, and the cinematography and direction are clearly accomplished. My problem isn't with the technical side. It's the storytelling. The way information is presented and the way the film moves between different parts of the story made sections feel longer than they needed to. Every time I thought the tension was building toward something worthwhile, it seemed to lose momentum.

I don't mind a slow burn when it has a payoff. In fact, some of my favorite horror movies take their time. I just need the buildup and the reveal to feel connected, and that didn't happen for me. There were a few striking horror moments, but I didn't feel they justified the journey getting there.

If Barbarian worked for you, I suspect you may be much more receptive to Weapons than I was. There is enough craftsmanship that I'm not going to pretend it's an incompetent movie. It simply didn't work for me, and I left the theater more annoyed than scared. I wanted to love the mystery it promised, but the film I got never paid off that promise in a satisfying way.

Weapons looked so good in the trailers that I was willing to give the director another chance, even though I didn't like Barbarian. I thought this was going to be a creepy mystery that would have me worrying about where all the missing children had gone. The beginning actually gave me some hope. There were unsettling moments, and I was ready to find out what was happening. Then the movie kept going, and I got more and more irritated.

I can give credit where it's due. The actors are good, the movie looks good, and there are scenes that feel like they should be scary. None of that was enough to make me enjoy the story. It felt like the movie would build up to something interesting, move away from it, and then spend a long time on something that didn't hold my attention. I kept waiting for the creepy feeling from the beginning to come back and stay.

It's especially disappointing because this was not a case of me being too scared or grossed out. I can understand why some horror movies aren't for me when they're disturbing from beginning to end. That wasn't the problem here. I was bored and frustrated. The things that made me want to see Weapons were not the things I felt I got from watching it.

I also had trouble with how different parts of the story fit together. I don't need a movie to explain every little thing, but I do want to feel like the story is going somewhere and that the time I've spent watching it was worth it. Instead, I felt like I was constantly waiting for a payoff that never really arrived for me.

When I left the theater, I said I wasn't going to do this again. The same director has now made two movies that looked very promising in the trailers and left me feeling disappointed. I know plenty of people loved both films, and they may get something out of Weapons that I didn't. I just can't recommend sitting through a movie that left me this annoyed, no matter how good the marketing was.