Review: Weapons
Official synopsis: When the children from Ms. Gandy's class (Julia Garner) mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance.
I've talked on this blog several times about my love for the former comedy troupe The Whitest Kids U'Know and how one of the members, Zach Cregger has turned into a very interesting horror director with his last feature, Barbarian. Needless to say, I was always going to be seated for this.
First, I have to say the marketing for this film has been incredible and I wish more studios would take note. One trailer, perfectly explains the synopsis, and doesn't give anything away. That's how you're meant to into every mystery movie.
There's a lot of subtle and not so subtle foreshadowing for where there children went, but it doesn't make the road to get there any less fun. Cregger continues to do a great job building dread while still throwing in bits of his humor here and there. There's a scene when Josh Brolin's character wakes up from a nightmare and his reaction is so much more believable (and hilarious) than we see in most movies.
The actors involved are all very good. The film is told in sections, each from a different character's point of view. Any overlap of scenes goes by very quickly so we're not stuck watching the same thing over and over. Garner, Brolin and Benedict Wong were my favorites. Plus I have to give a huge shot out to Cary Christopher, a young actor who plays one of the students. He does an excellent job.
I hate to say there's a "but" here, but I LOVED this movie all the way up until the last 5 minutes. I think the ending really undercuts the rest of the film, and it made me look back at it and start thinking about what they could've cut in other places to give time to flesh that out instead. That's not something I want to be thinking about leaving this. I only want too think about the most hilarious shot in a film I've seen all year.
Still, this is absolutely worth your theater money, just know the ending is going to be divisive.
Grade: B
It's frustrating when the ending tanks the film. There are a number of films I can think of that absolutely shit the bed in the last 5-15 minutes.
ReplyDeleteThe Butterfly Effect is a big one for me.
DeleteI need to watch Barbarian first before I see this hopefully at around Halloween season. Still don't like The Whitest Kids U Know. That Trent Reznor skit really sucked and I was offended as a NIN fan.
ReplyDeleteOmg I loved that skit because it was so random. And they were NIN fans themselves. Barbarian is excellent. You need to see that.
DeleteThis is Birgit…I actually, want to see this film and I, normally, do not wish to see a horror film but it sounds much more than that. I’m also intrigued by the disappearance of all the kids but one.
ReplyDeleteYes! There's a few jump scares but I hope you like it
DeleteI had never heard of Zach Cregger but it's interesting that his background is comedy. I knew that based on a few reviews that this is way too scary for me, but I agree with you about the marketing, the studios need to put more mystery into trailers instead of giving too much away.
ReplyDeleteCregger is hilarious. I highly recommend looking up some of his WKUK sketches. I really hope studios took notes at how they marked this, because it was perfect.
ReplyDelete