The 2022 horror film Barbarian was a sleeper hit, arriving with a teasing marketing campaign that concealed its wild narrative shifts. While it was showered with euphoric praise, heralding writer-director Zach Cregger as a new genre master, some found its flashy gimmickry masked an illogical and uninspired script.
For Cregger’s follow-up, Weapons, the situation is reversed. Anticipation has been immense since the spec script sparked a bidding war among studios, with New Line Cinema ultimately winning the coveted project. Over two years of mounting buzz, including Cregger comparing the film to Magnolia and the casting of stars like Julia Garner and Josh Brolin, have made it one of the year’s most high-profile releases. Despite an aggressive marketing campaign, the trailers have successfully preserved the core mystery beyond its striking premise.
The film opens with an unnerving event: seventeen children from the same class have vanished. All of them left their beds at precisely 2:17 a.m. and disappeared into the night. As baffled police investigate, furious parents direct their anger at the class teacher, Ms. Grady (Julia Garner). The narrative unfolds from multiple, alternating viewpoints—including a parent (Josh Brolin), a police officer (Alden Ehrenreich), a small-time criminal (Austin Abrams), and the one child who did not vanish (Cary Christopher)—slowly piecing together the events of that night.
It’s a tantalizing setup, evoking a blend of Stephen King and the Brothers Grimm. Cregger’s careful, slow-burn approach is largely enthralling, with the puzzle-box structure keeping the audience engaged. The shifting perspectives allow an excellent cast to shine, from Garner’s nervous, isolated teacher to Ehrenreich’s quick-tempered cop. However, the characters are thinly drawn, serving more as conduits for the plot than as fully realized individuals. The magnetic, drip-feed mystery is so compelling that it takes a while to notice how hollow the story feels underneath. While a welcome departure from overwrought trauma-based horror, Weapons functions primarily as an engine of brute force, akin to a paperback thriller that is impossible to put down but lacks an extra layer of surprise or sophistication.
The film recalls Denis Villeneuve’s thriller Prisoners; it is handsome, high-end packaging for what is ultimately a straightforward and pulpy story. The complex structure suggests a labyrinthine plot, but the reality is far simpler, relying on staggering character incompetence to move forward. Cregger remains a remarkably confident and immersive director, constructing wonderfully rattling shocks and moments of seat-clenching tension. His talent for conjuring mood is undeniable, making for a fun, reactive experience with a crowd. Yet, the storytelling crumbles under scrutiny, even before the film ends. The finale ups the violence to a wince-inducing level, but the chaos feels meaningless, failing to cut as deeply as it could.
While Cregger is expanding his arsenal and deploying his skills more effectively than in Barbarian, there is still a crucial element missing. The execution is skilled, but the story needed something sharper.
