Commentary: ‘Weapons’ Is A Movie Of Moments
by Frank Martin
It should come as a surprise to no one that some scenes in a movie are more compelling than others. They could be either deep character moments or big action set pieces. In terms of a horror film, these are tense and scary moments — the exact things the audience bought a ticket for it. But a film isn’t just a series of these moments. It’s a story, which means there has to be a narrative glue that ties those moments together. Weapons has some great moments. Unfortunately, the “story glue” is fairly weak.
The premise: an entire class of children leave their houses in the middle of the night and never return. The only child to show up to school the next day is a boy named Alex (Cary Christopher). Their teacher, Justine Gandy (Julia Garner), is accused of being responsible. The town turns against her, forcing her to uncover the mystery alongside Archer Graff (Josh Brolin), a father of one of the boys who went missing. They discover that Alex’s Aunt Gladys (Amy Madigan) was behind the entire scheme, using magic to control people’s minds. Alex eventually stops her himself by sending all of the missing children after Gladys, breaking the spell in the process.
Weapons undoubtedly has some great moments. Besides the explosively climactic ending, there are some excellent scenes of “weaponized” individuals attacking like rabid animals and wandering the street at night like zombies. Unfortunately, the film’s plot is its weakest point. It moves very slowly, sometimes diverging from the premise entirely and becoming a character study on humanity. So by the end, all that’s left to praise of the movie are moments, as there’s not much of a thematic foundation to everything together into a great film.
Weapons is now in theaters.