Director Zach Cregger has evidently proven himself no stranger to cleverly subverting viewer expectations, from his background as one of the founding members of the cult sketch comedy troupe “The Whitest Kids U’ Know” to making the jump into the horror genre in 2022 with “Barbarian.” In his debut film, he sprawled out from a simple premise of how many red flags he could fit in a 30-page scene and proceeded to deliver one the biggest surprise hits that year. Three years later, after WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes and casting changes , Cregger exceeds previous expectations and delivers a wilder, more ambitious follow up in this summer’s “Weapons.”
Much like Cregger’s previous film, without giving away too much for either film, he presents us a seemingly simple premise and only precedes to subvert that expectation for our amusement as the plot unfolds. The film opens with an unknown child’s narration explaining that on a Wednesday two years prior, 17 children from the same elementary school class all got up at 2:17 a.m., ran away from their respective homes and disappeared into the night without a trace. The child’s narration then goes on to reveal that only one student, Alex Lilly, remained.
As the film continues, viewers are given a multi-perspective point of view of the community dealing with the aftermath and searching for answers, leading those who question to discover an unusual nightmare. A stellar cast adds to the film’s intensity, portrayed by big names such as Julia Garner, Josh Brolin and Benedict Wong, to name a few.
In “Weapons,”Cregger takes us back to the roots of classic movie tropes as inspiration but returns with a little more ambition, such as revealing fellow writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Magnolia” as a big influence, even citing wardrobe references that reminisce the film. Both films are divided by different interconnected chapters where we follow an array of characters and watch how they all eventually impact the story as a whole towards the end.
Cregger’s personal motivation for “Weapons” added significant depth to the creation of the film. From making the film as a way to mourn and deal with a personal tragedy , including his favorite film references, to even casting one of the members from “The Whitest Kids U’ Know” as a pivotal character in the film, it all feels extremely deliberate.
Extremely well crafted and well acted, “Weapons” is an unhinged, demented and overall extremely satisfying thrill ride that demands to be seen with an audience in theaters. From the opening George Harrison needle drop “Beware of Darkness” after the opening narration until the final maniacal 20 minutes that everyone will be talking about, you will not be disappointed. Cregger is a new force in cinema that demands to be respected, therefore, “Weapons” is more than deserving of 4 out of 5 goats!
