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Weapons has been a highly anticipated movie this summer for movie goers (and me). I loved Barbarian and I think Julia Garner is great (Ruth in Ozark is one of the greatest characters of all time), but this movie fell flat.
Anyone who says “Weapons is the best horror of the year” must have only watched one horror movie this year (Hint: They only watched Weapons). Sinners, Together, Presence, The Girl with the Needle, Heart Eyes, The Rule of Jenny Penn, The Ugly Stepsister, Clown in a Cornfield, Megan 2.0, Hell of a Summer, even Final Destination: Bloodlines was better than Weapons.
Here are a few ways Weapons ruined a story and movie that could have been good (spoilers ahead):
Terrible use of multiple perspectives. I’m a big fan of stories told from multiple perspectives; it gives the audience a way to see the same story in a different light and get to know the characters better.
Except in Weapons.
Weapons combined a multi-perspective storytelling method with unreliable narrator(s), and then forced the audience to figure out which, if any of the perspectives were true. This led to plot holes and plenty of guessing on what actually happened. I love a little mystery when a movie is over, but I don’t want to be left with more questions than answers.
- A whole classroom of kids, who run weird, disappears into the night and only one parent checks his surveillance camera?
- Did Justine rape Paul? Gross. And what did that add to the story?
- Really? The crackhead stumbled upon the big mystery of the missing children? Really?
Also, the dark themes, such as mass trauma and grief, and the school shootings allegory was lost in this storytelling method.
Honestly, that’s the only reason I need to say this movie wasn’t great, but let’s throw in two more reasons for prosperity purposes.
A squandered Justin Long. Sorry, if you haven’t watched Barbarian and I’m spoiling it for you, but lots of millennials got a big kick out of Justin Long showing up in the middle of Barbarian and becoming an unexpected main character. Weapons decided to use Justin Long too, but for one forgettable scene. Some might call my next opinion silly, but here it goes anyways: the misuse of Justin Long was the single biggest let down of the entire movie.
The creepy run that was funny, and then boring. The way the bewitched characters run was a bit creepy, at first, but then I thought about Naruto, and it was funny. Then, the run happened a lot, and it was boring. If the intent was to be ridiculous and distinguish the bewitched characters from the non-bewitched, why not make them run like Phoebe from Friends?
I’ve seen the trailer for Weapons probably 25 times in the last several months because I see way too many movies. This means I’ve been waiting for this Naruto spin-off for months, and was severely let down.
If you can only watch one horror movie this year, perhaps due to some witch’s curse, please don’t make it Weapons.
NerdScore
6.2/10
Weapons (2025) Review
A taut, stylized thriller that swings for big ideas, Weapons impresses in moments but never fully locks its tone, resulting in a compelling yet uneven ride.
A fractured narrative explores violence, media, and moral decay through intersecting stories that circle a shocking event—raising questions about complicity and spectacle.
IMDb
7.8/10
Metacritic
74/100
Rotten Tomatoes
94%