Weapons – Zach Cregger Nivelle – Are you not entertained?

I just came out to see the weapons of Zach Cregger, and honestly? This is why I go to the cinema.

When Barbarian struck in 2022, it was one of those rare horror experiences where you got out of the theater saying to each friend you had: “Go see this. Don’t read anything, go for it.” I even saw her again this week to enter the right head space. The beginnings of Cregger had this perfect mixture of seriousness and total madness of the left field, told by an unconventional multi-personal structure. It was intelligent, surprising and just fun.

So yes, my expectations for weapons were high. And they were met. In fact – suspended.

A mystery hook that attracts you

From the start, marketing kept things to overflow things. The maximum we knew: one night at 2:17 am, 17 in 18 children in a class leave their house at the same time and disappear in the dark. Julia Garner plays their teacher. Josh Brolin plays the dissatisfied parent of one of the missing children. That’s it.

And this mystery works. He hangs on you. It makes you lean forward from the first minute.

The slow burn that bears fruit

Let’s eliminate this – weapons are a slow burn. Not in the way “I am bored and I check my phone”, but in the path “I am stuck on the screen because I need to know how it is paying”. Cregger’s narration moves the perspectives again, abandoning the breadcrumbs reveals here and there, pushing you deeper into the puzzle.

During all the time, I thought: please stick the landing. And when has the end come? They stuck it. Perfectly. One of the most satisfactory final acts I have seen for a long time. You could feel it in the theater – everyone was locked up and simply leading this wave together.

Performances singing

The film is masterfully designed – edition, partition, rhythm – but the performances make it rise. Julia Garner is absolutely phenomenal here, tapping in the same fire as she showed Ozark. Josh Brolin brings this raw mixture and in layers of sorrow, anger and stubbornness. Amy Madigan appears in a role that I will not spoil, but she brings part of this chaotic barbaric level energy that illuminates the screen. Even Cary Christopher the young actor playing Alex obtains his moment under the spotlight in the third act.

Balance the tones without losing the edge

For a film dealing with missing children – a weight of weight – it is surprising to see how funny weapons can be. Not in a way that undermines the tension, but in a way that makes the world and the characters feel lived and human. It is a delicate balance, and cregger the nail.

Overview

It is not surprising that there was an auction war for this script. Jordan Peele would have wanted it to be bad enough that when he did not understand it, he drew his representation. And even if I would be fascinated to see the Peele version, which we got here seems right. With weapons, Congger is shown in the conversation with Peele and Robert Eggers as one of the best horror voices that work today.

The next step for him is an adaptation of the Resident Evil, which is a big tonal transfer to territory heavier in action. After the barbarian and the weapons, I can’t wait to see how he manages it.

Final verdict

See weapons in theaters. See with an audience. Don’t be spoiled. It is a tense, intelligent, funny and deeply satisfactory cinema from start to finish. A real slow burn that rewards your patience with a shovel. We need more films like this every year.

Weapons = 93/100

Published by Budding film review

Hey guys and girls. Since I remembered, I loved films, pop culture and all that geek and nerds have been linked. So I decided to start writing my thoughts on things I love. Just a budding film critic, trying to realize later. See all the articles by Wannabe Movie Critic