We’ve come to the end of our first annual Spooktober event. As this is our first time doing this, we opted to be a little light. None of our previous entries could considered be a truly spooky film. They were more horror-adjacent. Well, it’s only fair to try to scare the bejesus out of us to close out our first Spooktober. That’s why I decided to end Spooktober with a film that’s garnered a lot of praise for being frightening. That’s why we’re ending it with Weapons.

Now, Weapons was a movie I intended to watch when it was released in cinemas a couple of months ago. Unfortunately, life got in the way and I wasn’t able to find the time to do so. Well, it just came out for HBO Max subscribers. So, was Weapons worth the wait? Let’s go find out!

But before we do go to the review proper, I do have to mention this review for Weapons will be a SPOILER FREE review. Although it came out in cinemas a while back, it’s juts now being released on HBO Max. I’m guessing, like for me, this will be a lot of people’s first time seeing Weapons. So, to be fair to them, this will be a SPOILER FREE review.

The basic premise of Weapons is, in a small town, 17 kids from the same classroom, all at the same time, got up at 2:17 AM, ran out of their homes and vanished. This led the townsfolks to blame Justine, the class’ homeroom teacher. This includes one of the parent’s children, a foreman named Archer, to also investigate what happened to the kids. Although 17 kids vanished, one child, Alex, wasn’t affected and he may know something about what happened…

The reason why I wanted to see Weapons when it came out was because of the setup. The setup is brilliant and I really wanted to find out what happened. The problem with big concept films like this is the payoff isn’t always going to be as good. There’s going to be some disappointment and, sad to say, Weapons also falls into this trap. However, while this is the case, the entire journey to get there was fantastic.

I really hate to get into technical details when reviewing a film but the cinematography and musical score for Weapons are great. The camera angles used throughout the film don’t feel like standard horror movie fair. The film is comfortable with lingering shots, sometimes long enough to make you feel uncomfortable. You know something is going to happen but… nothing’s happening. But you know something will. It’s great for building tension in the viewer. The soundtrack also does a great job in highlighting this as it enhances the internal terror of the moment.

Besides the setup, Weapons has a central gimmick regarding non-linear storytelling and different point of views. I’m kind of mixed on this idea. It’s well-executed here, don’t get me wrong. Seeing an event happen from another angle keeps things interesting for the viewer. It also does help give more information to the viewer in a creative way. However, because of the way the story is laid out, a couple of the stories and characters come off as pointless. In a way, the film’s 128-minute runtime could have been shorted by a good 20 minutes. But they had to introduce a couple of viewpoints which do not really enhance the central story. So, while they’re necessary to give as much information to the viewer, they really didn’t need to at the same time. A quick rewrite here and there would have sufficed.

Speaking of the characters, I did love the acting overall. As mentioned in the summary, you’re essentially following three main characters. Julia Garner plays homeroom teacher Justine. There’s a sadness to her performance and it works. She has more than just a tangential interest to the crime. After all, she’s being blamed for the disappearance of the 17 kids. While she is trying to solve it on her own, there’s also a piece of herself going on a self-destructive streak. She does pull it off. Josh Brolin is Archer, the contractor. Simply put, Josh Brolin plays Josh Brolin. It’s a solid performance with some great outbursts of frustration and emotion. Finally, we have Cary Christopher, the “survivor” Alex. He actually pulls off a fantastic performance here. He’s more than just a little introverted and you do kind of feel for him as he’s put through the wringer emotionally but still has to remain strong.

Now, as Weapons is supposed to be a truly scary movie, does it live up to the hype? In my opinion, no. The central mystery of what happened to the missing kids is a great hook. It’s a great scary setup. But the film itself wasn’t scary. I already said the cinematography and camera angles do a lot to build the tension. But a part of me never really got frightened. Creeped out, sure. Frightened? Nope. The only things which got a rise out of me were the few jumpscares sprinkled in the early part of the movie. These jumpscares didn’t feel earned. It’s almost like the writer realized nothing was happening so they had to add in a “boo” in.

This is also highly emphasized by the film’s ending. While I won’t reveal anything as this is a SPOILER FREE review, I found it absolutely hilarious! No, really! I actually burst out laughing while watching this scene because it looks ridiculous! It almost looks like slapstick. I’m not sure if this was intentional but I can’t believe it wasn’t. I simply cannot be convinced the director saw this final edit and think “yeah, this is scary.” I get it’s supposed to be a scene where a wave of relief with what’s happening. But it still should’ve been a bit scary!

Also, what’s with the police in this town? Two whole months have passed and they haven’t gotten any new leads. But you have Josh Brolin and Julia Garner’s characters team up for, what? A day? And then they solve it? Heck, what Josh Brolin’s character did was very simple deductive reasoning! And he managed to break the case! My only explanation is the town is like a town from a Stephen King novel. You know, it’s a town where the police are incompetent because of a supernatural element or something like that. I mean, that has to be it, right?

Despite me ragging on the movie, I will say I still liked Weapons. It’s creepy enough make you feel uneasy, which is fine, I guess. The cinematography and the non-linear storytelling really helps keeping things interesting. However, Weapons feels more like a “one and done” kind of deal for me. It’s not something I care to watch again in the future. It’s good but not that good. Still, there are worst ways to end Spooktober, I guess.

Have you seen Weapons? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments section below!