Seventeen children disappeared one night. All at 2:17 am. They woke up as a collective and bolted out their respective front doors into the darkness never to be seen again. The door cameras verified time and lack of coercion.
This is fantastic way to start a film, huh?
What did the kids all have in common? They were all students of Justine (Julia Garner), a third-grade teacher at a local elementary school. One of two third grade teachers in her school. One child remains in her class. The other third grade section is still full. Well, this cannot possibly be a coincidence, now can it?
The parents blame the teacher – hey, right out of the MAGA handbook! I’ve been wronged! It’s somebody’s fault! Ignore the facts, find a scapegoat and blame! Blame! Blame! I mean, she HAD to be in on it, right?
Miss Justine is actually just as upset as you are, MAGA parents. Perhaps even more so, now that the incident has cost her job. How would you like to wake up one day with your job gone, your joy gone, your passion gone, your friends gone, your life gone, and everybody you know suddenly hates you. The death threats don’t help. Neither does the odd “WITCH” graffiti painted on her car. Can we blame her for taking to the bottle? I don’t.
Lacking anything to do with her newfound free time and surrounded by nothing but pain and fear, Miss Justine starts investigating. I won’t give it away. Her discoveries are … disturbing.
Justine is not the only person in town with a story to tell. The film resets itself several times in 
order to relay the POV of Archer (Josh Brolin), a parent of a missing child, Paul (Alden Ehrenrich), a local cop, James (Austin Abrams) , a junkie, Marcus (Benedict Wong), the school principal, and Alex (Cary Christopher), the only kid left in Justine’s class. Wait. The only one left – he has to know something, right? Right?
Weapons is the most intense film I’ve seen in 2025. It’s uncompromising, intelligent, freaky, and sometimes flat-out scary. I wish I could see a film like this every week. This is an easy pick for my top 10 of 2025 (the first guaranteed). The only question now is where it will rank by the end of the year.
Seventeen children got up and left home
Like they all had a wanderlust syndrome
The parents all shouted
That their teacher be outed
Yet no one knows why these youngsters did roam
Rated R, 128 Minutes
Director: Zach Cregger
Writer: Zach Cregger
Genre: WTF?!
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Fans of intensity
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Fans of fairness
