Weapons Review

Outside of Super Duper Stuff, this is one of the most talked about movies amongst my friends for a while. As much as we’re aware that our tastes vary, this one has been contentious. Of the four of us, one really liked it, one thought it was decent, and one despised it.

So where did I fit in on Zach Cregger’s follow up to Barbarian? Somewhat annoyingly, I thought it was OK.

I can’t fault the casting or acting. Josh Brolin in particular as a concerned and driven Father struck a chord with me. His screen presence lends him a lot of believability as someone who’d go to lengths to protect his family. Julia Garner, who I felt was side-lined in Fantastic Four, gets much more time to shine here. Her character veers from timid to angry and everything in-between. Considering the weird goings-on I don’t blame her!

An odd voiceover explains how all bar one of the children in a class leave their houses in the middle of the night and disappear. My fear as we got further into the film was that the conclusion couldn’t match up to the tension and mystery that came before. For me, that fear came true.

The first half of the film, with its changing character viewpoints, drew me in. I found it interesting seeing point of views cross over as I gained more knowledge of what was going on. I kept wondering “I wonder who’s pov I’m going to next” and how they’d fit in. Like a jigsaw coming together. But the introduction and light-touch explanation of one character dulled it all in the second half. I didn’t find the unravelling interesting. I kept hoping for more, or another twist to get it back on track, but it didn’t pan out to be very satisfying for me.

Between this and Barbarian, Cregger can clearly create an atmosphere. It gives me some hope for his next project, which looks like being a new Resident Evil film. But whereas Barbarian left me with mixed feelings for its characters, Weapons left me with mixed feelings about it overall.