Movie Review: Weapons (2025)

Synopsis: When 17 students from the same elementary school class walk out of their houses at 2:17 a.m. and disappear, their teacher, Justine Gandy, comes under suspicion from the angry parents. She, however, thinks the disappearances might have something to do with Alex, the only student in her class not to go missing.

Who's in it? The movie stars Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Benedict Wong, Cary Christopher and Alden Ehrenreich.

Review: I didn't have a chance to see Weapons when it was at the theater but had several friends tell me it was the most terrifying film they had ever seen. I was intrigued so, when I saw I could watch it on HBO Max, my wife and I finally gave it a try.

For the record, it is not the most terrifying movie I've ever seen, and I am starting to think I shouldn't trust my friends' judgment when it comes to horror movies. It was, however, a relatively enjoyable film.

As far as the horror element goes, this movie was, at best, average. There were some gruesome scenes and a few intense moments but there wasn't anything that had me covering my eyes or jumping in my seat and I certainly am not concerned about having nightmares from it.

The film did, however, have a solid mystery to it. There were a lot of questions surrounding the events in the movie. Why did the kids disappear at the same time and seemingly on their own? What was the reason they were all from the same class? What was Alex (Christopher) hiding in his house? I had my theories about the why but wasn't completely sure about the who until later in the film and that keep me interested, especially toward the end, when the bad guy needed to be confronted and seemed impossible to beat.

The movie did have some flaws. For one, some of the scenes seemed unnecessarily dragged out, especially multiple uncut walking scenes. The movie was more than two hours in length but easily could have trimmed thirty minutes without impacting the plot.

I also thought the movie had the big baddie reveal way too soon. Like I said, the mystery surrounding the disappearances and who was behind them was the most interesting thing about the film. Once those questions were answered, it became a lot more predictable.

The ending also left a little to be desired because there were a whole mess of unanswered questions, including how the main bad guy planned on using the kids, who didn't do anything other than stand around the entire film. I'm also a little confused about what purpose sending Alex to school served. If anything, you would think you'd want that unnecessary attention and would stage his disappearance as well. 

As I mentioned, there were a lot of unnecessarily dragged-out scenes. Cut one or two of those down and there would have been plenty of time to fill in the missing details.

Final Opinion: It is a movie with flaws, and it certainly wasn't as terrifying as certain people led me to believe. I did, however, enjoy watching it and would still recommend it.

My Grade: B

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Here are some reviews of other horror movies:

Movie Review: Shiver Me Timbers (2025)

Movie Review: Bonejangles (2017)

Movie Review: Terrifier (2017)

Movie Review: The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)