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Weapons is the latest 2025 movie to debut on Rotten Tomatoes with a score that rivals The Wizard of Oz, Jaws and Lawrence of Arabia. Is this one finally worth the hype?
Weapons is Zach Cregger’s follow-up to Barbarian, which struck a chord with horror fans and received favorable reviews. This time Cregger helms a story about a classroom of school children that mysteriously disappear one night at 2:17 a.m. Mystery and horror follow, along with a sly vein of humor that runs throughout the tale.
Let’s take a look at Weapons with no spoilers.
Weapons Ready
Weapons stars Julia Garner, who is on pace to try to outdo Pedro Pascal for most appearances in movies. This is her third film in 2025 after Wolf Man and The Fantastic Four: First Steps. She plays the school teacher of the missing children.
The secret to the success of Garner and Pascal is obvious in this day and age. They both exhibit zero sexually threatening characteristics onscreen. We wouldn’t want anyone to be too masculine or feminine.
Bullseye
Josh Brolin joins Garner as the father of one of the missing children. He takes it upon himself to discover what happened to his son when he is dissatisfied with the progress of the police force.
Other familiar faces pop in along the way, including Han Solo himself, Alden Ehrenreich, Benedict Wong, Amy Madigan and even a brief appearance by Justin Long.
Lethal Weapons
Weapons plays from multiple points of view. Its structure is similar to Wrath of Man in this regard, as chapters featuring different characters overlap to reveal the whole story.
The mystery of the story and the shifting narratives keep the viewer engaged. Plus, Cregger doesn’t get bogged down trying to make things smarter than they appear. A deeper meaning probably exists to the film, considering some of the imagery and the title, but the deeper meaning is not used as a shield from criticism, unlike Sinners, which is supposed to be forgiven for being mid because it has commentary on racism.
Whenever Weapons is on the verge of bogging down, Cregger simply switches the viewpoint, throws in a scare or dishes out a dash of violence to keep the film’s energy up.
Ultimately, the entire storyline comes together pretty well and even manages a satisfying ending, which is getting to be a rare and wonderful thing in movies these days.
Weapons On Target
Since this is a spoiler-free review, not much more exists to say. Weapons is a solid film. It has been my most satisfying 2025 movie experience by a wide margin. My only real nitpick is I wonder if it would have been better played straight vs. the slightly quirky angle it takes. Maybe, maybe not… Probably not. In fact, I might label Weapons more a dark fairy tale than a horror film, and that quirkiness works well within that style.
Boba Phil Pipes In
I’ve been doing everything to avoid spoilers for Weapons, and only just read Wrenage’s review. I have to say, I completely agree with him on it all.
As you know, I watch a lot of horror, and most of it is not good. I’m constantly looking for a diamond in the rough. Weapons is one of those diamonds. I’m not going to go into spoilers either, because the less you know, the more of a treat you are in for.
If you saw the trailer, you know that one night, a group of kids in a classroom get up from their beds and run off into the darkness. This is how the movie opens; the rest of it is you piecing together what happened by telling different people’s stories. I can’t remember the last time I saw a movie do this, but it’s very well done. Some of the stories don’t seem to be connected, but they are.
The Direction
The other thing that really impressed me was the direction of the movie. Cregger’s style and photography are beautiful. In fact, I would say this is one of the best-directed movies I’ve seen in a good while.
There are some cheeky jump scares, but they aren’t overly done. There were only 5 people in the screening with me, and a lady a couple of rows in front of me, hit the roof at one point, which made me smile. Cregger doesn’t use violins to ‘build the tension’, instead, he uses, well, nothing. There are moments of silence that had me smiling, because I knew something was coming.
Sometimes he would pay off, others not, which made me smile more the next time. Weapons is worth seeing, just to see a very well-directed movie, that doesn’t rely on CG or overly exaggerated shots. It’s all very simple, but very effective.
Overall
Weapons was a treat and I really had fun with it. The story kept me very invested in everyone, and the way different characters are seen from different perspectives was masterfully done.
The cast is really good. I’m very impressed with Garner; she’s relatively new to me, but she really carries the movie well. Oddly, the story shifts away from her during act two, but when she comes back, via someone else’s storyline, she really shines. The rest of the cast is excellent, and even the kids aren’t too annoying.
I’ve just had a good DM session with Wrenage about it, because it’s one of those movies you want to tell everyone about. If you have kept it spoiler-free, go and enjoy it.
I’m giving Weapons 5 stars, as I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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