By this point, everyone has heard the incredible backstory of this movie: the bidding war for the rights to produce/direct it; Jordan Peele losing out and immediately firing his representatives; the possible symbolism behind the title Weapons, about a class of elementary kids that go missing.
Without a doubt, this movie has been heavily hyped since late last year.
And I love a movie with hype going into it.
The director, Zach Cregger, has been hailed as 1B to Jordan Peele’s 1A. And of course, Barbarian and Companion are both great. But this was supposed to be a step up from either of those.
It sure is a step toward something.
Let’s get into it.
Good
Well, there’s a lot. It’s a very good movie, after all.
First, the director Zach Cregger really makes his presence felt in a good way. While I did think the dialogue was lacking at times, the cinematography and storytelling are top-notch. (More on the latter in a minute.) This movie has 4 or 5 scenes that will stick in my head for a long time, and a lot of that is the camera work. It’s all very well-done.
Throughout the movie, there are multiple “chases” (and I won’t say any more, to avoid spoilers), and each is shown differently. Never does this movie feel repetitive or predictable. For a horror movie with such a simple premise, that’s the highest possible compliment.
Secondly, the story is very good! Better than I expected because it wasn’t predictable at all. A couple of surprises, a couple of top actors, and a host of memorable side-characters. If it wasn’t scary, maybe I’d feel differently, but trust me. It’s scary.
In fact, that’s my third point. This movie is scarier than I anticipated. The villain is wonderfully horrible, both in appearance and what they do. It’s unsettling at times and outright funny at others. It has the best jump scare in years. — So good, in fact, that my wife actually yelled. Sorry, babe. Had to include it 🙂
It’s a very, very good movie. However, it’s not perfect. Honestly, it’s not close.
Bad
Let’s start with my main issue: It’s inconsistent. Not the quality or the story or the cinematography or even the dialogue. The biggest inconsistency is the tone.
The first half is deeply serious. A missing class of kids. A town turned against the teacher, who suffers from alcoholism and paranoia. It’s intense and thrilling. There are fewno stable characters. It’s a town — and a group of people– that are falling apart.
Then we switch point of views.
The second half is a rotating cast of characters. We have a lot of humorous moments: a cop chasing a homeless addict —actually, there are a lot of funny chases — plus, a couple of well-timed F-bombs, a very comical, body horror ending. I loved this 2nd half so much. BUT. It is quite a contrast from the first, and that really bugged me.
A couple other points: There are way too many question marks at the end. I loved an ambiguous ending, but this isn’t that. This is… just some loose ends that never get wrapped up or even hinted at.
And finally, the teacher. A lot of potential goes wasted here. Let me explain: There’s a great moment at the end where she goes to save a little kid as a father goes to his own child. This was very heartfelt and powerful. BUT. Up to this point, the teacher wasn’t never shown to try “protecting” the kids. It comes out of nowhere. If that had been fixed, she could’ve been very sympathetic to the audience instead of a gray-area character.
Overall
This is rare type of movie paradox. On one hand, it’s incredible, entertaining, memorable, and shocking. On the other, there’s a lot of potential; it could’ve been even better. Almost everybody agrees.
And yet, this genre-blending, scary, mystery-mashup is undeniably great. I’m giving it a 9 out of 10.
David Kummer 