0:02 If you had told me even just a few years
0:03 ago that one of the whitest kids you
0:04 know would be one of the most
0:07 captivating and boundary pushing genre
0:08 filmmakers working today, I would have
0:10 said you were insane. But in a post
0:12 Jordan Peele cinematic landscape,
0:14 perhaps I shouldn't be surprised.
0:15 There's no denying some of the most
0:17 gifted comedians have a real knack for
0:21 the Macob. And in 2022, Zack Kger took
0:23 the world by storm, blindsiding
0:26 audiences with Barbarian, a batshit
0:28 horror sensation in the vein of Sam
0:31 Ramy. It came almost from nowhere with
0:32 little more than a teaser trailer and a
0:35 poster. It was the fervent word of mouth
0:37 and shocking subversion of the genre
0:39 that catapulted Barbarian into the
0:41 horror cannon and Kger into a surprising
0:43 position as Hollywood's latest horror
0:46 aur. But even with how awesome a debut
0:48 it was, even as a highlight among the
0:49 modern horror genre, Barbarian's
0:51 inventive thrills, unforgettable
0:53 protagonist shifting POV antics, the
0:55 revival of Justin Law, devilish sense of
0:57 humor, and surprisingly profound
0:58 commentary on suburban decay and
1:01 gentrification hardly began to hint at
1:03 the masterful brilliance was about to
1:06 unleash on us next. Though perhaps we
1:07 should have seen it coming. We were
1:09 caught off guard by Barbarian, and so
1:11 was the industry. But after a filmmaker
1:14 announces himself like that, we all pay
1:15 close attention to whatever's on the
1:17 horizon. And if audiences were eager for
1:19 KGER's next hit, I mean, you could bet
1:20 the distributors were going to pounce
1:21 hard this time.
1:22 >> A lot of times in life, you get to do
1:24 something and you don't realize until
1:26 it's over how much you enjoyed it, and
1:27 you swear that the next time it comes
1:28 around, you're going to remember that.
1:31 >> So, from the onset, weapons commanded
1:34 industry attention, igniting a seismic
1:35 bidding war that rattled the foundation
1:37 of Hollywood. a mad dash to be in
1:39 business with the latest exciting new
1:41 voice in a horror. Weapons marked the
1:43 chance for a studio to stake their claim
1:46 on the next Jordan Peele, if you will.
1:47 Something the studios have been chasing
1:49 ever since Peele exploded onto the scene
1:52 with Get Out. However, weapons made for
1:53 an interesting case because out of all
1:55 the attempts to make rising filmmakers
1:57 the next Jordan Peele, Kger was
2:00 seemingly the only one who garnered the
2:02 support and attention of Peele himself.
2:03 the ultimate seal of approval for a
2:05 young filmmaker like Kger, who not only
2:08 considers Get Out a personal favorites,
2:10 but an influence on his pursuits in
2:12 horror. When Monkey Paw's joint bid with
2:13 Universal was ecliped by New Line
2:16 Cinema, Peele's reported frustration was
2:18 so immense that he severed ties with his
2:20 management. And not only was the bidding
2:21 war enough for the industry to set their
2:23 sights on Craigger's latest project, but
2:25 Peele's reaction, the guy who is
2:27 considered the voice in modern horror,
2:30 indicated that Weapons wasn't merely
2:32 just a follow-up from the guy who did
2:34 Barbarian. No, it indicated that Weapons
2:37 was something special, something worth
2:39 investing in, a film with something to
2:42 say that was going to shock audiences to
2:44 their core, something to be excited
2:46 about. While that level of expectation
2:48 can be daunting and detrimental to the
2:50 final product, Kger never wavered,
2:52 embracing it head-on and carrying over
2:54 the confidence with which he wrote the
2:57 script into production and post. And
3:00 yeah, after seeing weapons, I get it. I
3:03 [ __ ] get it. He's indignation was
3:06 absolutely justified. Like, if I lost
3:07 the film as twisty, unpredictable,
3:09 thrilling, and topical as Weapons, uh,
3:12 yeah, I'd be pissed, too. Weapons is the
3:13 kind of horror epic you expect to see
3:16 from a veteran filmmaker, not the work
3:18 of a sophomore. For all intents and
3:20 purposes, because 2009's Mismar doesn't
3:23 count. With Weapons, Zack Kger not only
3:25 avoided the sophomore genre slump, but
3:28 delivers a bonafide horror masterpiece,
3:30 easily staking its claim as the best
3:34 film of 2025 so far. weapons masterfully
3:36 blends the parental paranoia and
3:38 chilling suspense of Deni Vnub's crime
3:39 thriller Prisoners with the sprawling
3:41 narrative complexity of Magnolia
3:43 peppered with the type of absurdest
3:45 macob humor the Cohen brothers sort of
3:47 made their wheelhouse in films like
3:49 Fargo Miller's Crossing even later fair
3:51 like Raising Arizona weapons is a
3:53 sharply aimed critique of our society's
3:55 reaction to tragedy particularly
3:57 communal horrors centered around
3:59 America's gun epidemic illustrating how
4:01 our destructive sensationalism and
4:03 obsessive pursuit of the motive To
4:06 understand the why paralyzes genuine
4:08 progress. Rather than confronting the
4:11 root causes, we fixate on superficial
4:13 details, endlessly cycling through blame
4:15 and outrage, thoughts and prayers,
4:17 ultimately normalizing the objectively
4:19 abnormal. If Barbarian showcased Kger's
4:22 command of structure and perspective,
4:24 weapons is a confident as [ __ ]
4:26 refinements of the form. Perspective
4:28 takes center stage as Kger deafly weaves
4:30 together a Rashimon-esque tapestry
4:32 consisting of six points of view
4:33 ascribed to six different characters
4:36 charting the ripple effects of a tragic
4:37 mass disappearance of school children in
4:39 the small suburban town of Maybrook.
4:42 Central to this web is Justine Gandandy
4:44 played by Julia Gardner. Justine is a
4:46 compassionate educator with a tendency
4:48 to overstep her rigid duties who finds
4:49 herself in the crosshairs of parental
4:51 outrage and a media frenzy, becoming the
4:54 de facto scapegoat due to past mistakes
4:55 in her personal life, ranging from
4:57 excessive drinking, flings, and
4:58 inepathetic attentiveness to her
5:00 students that goes beyond the classroom.
5:02 In trying to make sense of a senseless
5:04 situation, Justine becomes the town
5:07 pariah, branded a witch. Her flaws laid
5:09 bare as Maybrook infers the worst of
5:10 her, even if the actual crime has
5:12 nothing to do with her past actions. As
5:14 Josh Brolan's Archer says, she's either
5:17 negligent or complicit. Either way,
5:19 she's to blame. The inhumity with which
5:21 Justine is treated underscores the
5:23 film's criticism of a cultural inability
5:26 to look inward. There's a readiness to
5:28 vilify past judgment and blame,
5:29 weaponizing grief to distract from
5:32 genuine culpability because it's easier.
5:36 It offers an answer, not a solution. And
5:38 that answer comes at the expense of
5:40 Justine's own emotion. She's in complete
5:42 disarray, feeling intense guilt over
5:44 what happened and isn't given the space
5:46 to grieve along with the parents. Even
5:48 though she arguably spends more time
5:49 with their children on a day-to-day
5:51 basis, she's just expected to teach the
5:53 kids and nothing more. If they fail,
5:55 it's her fault. If they succeed, it's
5:57 the genius of the kids. If anything goes
5:58 wrong, then she's going to find herself
6:00 unfairly in the line of fire. In her own
6:02 words, under mounting pressure, she says,
6:02 says,
6:04 >> "I love those kids."
6:06 >> As I alluded to earlier, Justine is
6:08 labeled a witch due to the tragedy. And
6:09 while the town's inhabitants are
6:11 hellbent on burning her for what
6:14 happened, they're missing the very real
6:16 witch, that's the cause of everything.
6:18 The people are blinded by what they feel
6:21 is the truth that the obvious answer
6:22 that's right in front of them goes
6:24 unnoticed. We've seen Garner's
6:26 impressive range from exploring her rise
6:28 as a ruthless crime boss in Ozark to
6:29 just a few weeks ago with the
6:31 supernaturally tormented Silver Surfer
6:33 in the Fantastic 4 First Steps. Both of
6:35 which take advantage of her deceptive
6:37 appearance. Garner carries an inherent
6:39 intensity, balancing an unassuming,
6:41 delicate stature, and Kger expertly
6:44 utilizes this duality to craft a nuanced
6:46 portrait of a flawed, passive person who
6:48 recognizes the strength they have within
6:50 themselves and channels that into being
6:53 a force for good. While initially her
6:54 grief turned guilt causes her to turn to
6:56 the bottle, that love becomes a
6:59 motivator to do something. She owes it
7:01 to her kids as she takes the initiative,
7:03 looking in places the police won't and
7:05 challenging the abnormalities that have
7:07 been afforded one too many excuses.
7:09 Justine's transformation is indicative
7:11 of the kind of public servant she's been
7:14 all along. However, instead of remaining
7:16 stifled by the broken system in place,
7:18 she rightfully oversteps, allowing
7:20 Garner to turn in a remarkably honest
7:23 and powerful performance as Justine is
7:24 allowed to triumph over the cliché
7:26 downfall a lot of other horror stories
7:28 might give her character. This narrative
7:30 mosaic not only represents the various
7:32 stages of grief CGER experienced while
7:33 writing the film as a means to cope with
7:35 the loss of a close friend, but also
7:37 serves as a vessel to investigate the
7:39 different attitudes and institutions in
7:41 the fallout of a tragedy. What binds
7:43 these stories isn't just the central
7:45 mystery, but how each character
7:47 represents a failing in the systems
7:49 meant to protect and nurture our
7:51 children. To simply label weapons as an
7:53 allegory for school shootings, which is
7:55 something I can foresee a lot of people
7:57 doing, is a tad reductive. Kger is
8:00 exploring the culture that perpetuates
8:02 these issues. The rot at the core, our
8:05 normalizing of the objectively abnormal
8:08 that has become common place in America.
8:10 Law enforcement, personified by Alden
8:12 Aaron Reichkes Paul, is depicted as
8:14 tragically ineffectual, consumed by
8:16 personal crises and professional apathy.
8:18 Paul's self-destructive behavior and
8:20 violent outbursts covered up by
8:21 higher-ups protecting their reputation
8:23 underscore a corrupt police system,
8:25 illquipped and unwilling to meaningfully
8:27 address societal wounds. Instead,
8:29 doubling down on the petty, irrelevant
8:31 misdemeanors they can exert control
8:33 over. Aaron Reich's distraught
8:34 expressions employing a similar
8:36 pettiness as his Senate aid from
8:38 Oppenheimer shape a character completely
8:40 unraveling at the seams in the most
8:43 comically incompetent way possible. Like
8:45 the dude's a [ __ ] mess and it's kind
8:47 of incredible to watch. Alden is a
8:49 director's secret weapon and weapons
8:51 advances all of his strengths as a
8:52 performer. Paul's actions also
8:54 encapsulate the film's broader message.
8:56 Societal institutions selfishly
8:59 prioritizing image over genuine progress
9:01 and solutions, thereby perpetuating
9:03 tragedies like the one Maybrook is
9:05 experiencing. Sometimes it seems easier
9:07 to just let something fizzle out until
9:09 it's not on the forefront of everyone's
9:10 mind. At least that's the mindset that
9:12 the police department has. It's a flawed
9:14 mindset that ignores the problem
9:16 entirely. And it's not just a Paul
9:18 issue, but one shared by the institution
9:21 he's a part of and by large swaves of
9:22 the population of Maybrook. While it's
9:24 easier for the police to turn a blind
9:26 eye, disregard outside thought, do less
9:29 paperwork. It doesn't actually achieve
9:30 anything and is directly responsible for
9:32 the continuing cycle. This is not only
9:34 true of communal tragedies, but the
9:36 abuse of power at the hands of law
9:38 enforcement. They simply make a
9:39 statement that sounds like they're doing
9:41 something or ignore the instance
9:42 entirely and then fail to address it,
9:44 only looking after their own and nothing
9:46 more. While there are good cops in the
9:48 ranks, it's clear they feel hopeless to
9:50 do anything about the situation since
9:51 they shoulder the burden of the
9:53 investigation alone instead of
9:55 collaborating with concerned citizens
9:57 who are more motivated to solve the
9:59 crime. This causes people like Paul to
10:02 fixate on more solvable problems. Paul
10:04 especially wants to feel useful,
10:07 recovering from alcoholism and just
10:08 having relapsed and dealing with
10:10 infidelity. He's got a lot on his mind.
10:12 He's feeling the pressure of everything.
10:14 And he just crumbles under the weight
10:17 entirely. Everything everyone does in
10:19 the fallout of the class's disappearance
10:22 is to soothe themselves, not actually
10:23 solve the problem. And the perfect
10:26 example of that is Paul. Justine is the
10:28 only person actively doing anything
10:30 about the disappearance. And yet she's
10:33 the one accused of acting selfishly.
10:35 Paul's predicament of relapsing and
10:36 hooking up with Justine and dealing with
10:38 the repercussions of his wife, the
10:39 police chief's daughter, finding out
10:42 caused him to act recklessly, directing
10:44 his emotional instability at James, an
10:45 addict who may or may not have been
10:47 vandalizing public property. Even with a
10:50 body cam, Paul's internal frustration
10:53 wins out as he beats the [ __ ] out of
10:55 James. in turn an act the higher-ups are
10:57 willing to ignore since they refuse to
10:59 put their community status in jeopardy.
11:01 Paul's personal and professional
11:03 relationships are intertwined and yet
11:06 entirely self- serving as a means to
11:07 save his ass when he [ __ ] up. This
11:10 stands in stark contrast to Justine,
11:12 whose professional relationships, her
11:13 relationships with her students, she
11:15 considers quite personal and she
11:17 utilizes everything in her power to
11:20 serve their best interests. I mean, the
11:21 metaphor doesn't get any more obvious
11:24 when Paul, the police, become a literal
11:26 puppet for Glattis, the ghoul at the
11:28 center of this entire thing as she has
11:30 him under her control. Something that
11:32 could have been avoided had Paul acted
11:35 with the interest of the kids in mind.
11:37 On the subject of Paul's dereliction of
11:39 duty, James, a scene stealing Austin
11:41 Abrams, is arguably the standout
11:42 character. A troubled addict and
11:44 frequent victim of the community's
11:45 self-serving negligence, tragically
11:48 embodies Maybrook's abandonment of the
11:50 vulnerable. This willingness to let
11:52 people self-destruct is indicative of
11:53 how a classroom of kids could go
11:55 missing. He exemplifies how
11:57 stigmatization and neglect transform
12:00 individuals into weapons themselves.
12:02 James' storyline painfully exposes the
12:05 systemic cycle of neglect and violence
12:07 embedded within the very fabric of the
12:08 community. It's a system entirely
12:10 disinterested in rehabilitation so much
12:12 as it is band-aid solutions. They'll
12:15 just throw someone like James into
12:16 prison for a small amount of time so
12:18 they can think about what they've done
12:19 or throw them out into the wild and let
12:22 them ruin their lives, get desperate and
12:23 do bad things in order to attain the
12:25 means to get their high. No one actually
12:27 gives a [ __ ] about these people. And
12:30 that's the problem. Through James, we're
12:32 almost exposed to the older version of
12:34 someone like Alex, the lone survival of
12:36 Miss Gandy's classroom disappearance.
12:39 someone who we can assume has selfish,
12:41 vacant, absent parents that lead to a
12:43 child being consumed by the worst the
12:45 world has to offer. Having James
12:48 discover Alex's possessed parents, these
12:49 shells of people were almost looking
12:51 into his own past. I mean, I don't think
12:53 it's a coincidence that James is the one
12:55 to find the kids hidden in the basement,
12:57 but distraught, scared, and without any
12:59 help, he just runs away. Sure, he's
13:01 motivated by the reward to come forth
13:02 with the information. But as he
13:04 approaches Paul due to their previous
13:06 encounter in which Paul accidentally
13:08 gets stabbed by James' heroin needles,
13:10 and holy [ __ ] that's like one of the
13:11 funniest sequences in the entire film,
13:14 Paul doesn't stop to hear him out. He
13:17 just runs after him, blinded by his
13:20 vendetta, ignoring very real evidence
13:22 from James, who is written off as
13:24 nothing more than a junkie or
13:26 troublemaker. A perfect example of a
13:28 system continually screwing itself and
13:30 the people it's supposedly designed to
13:32 help and protect. Standing in further
13:34 opposition to Justine to search for the
13:36 kids is Archer, played by Josh Boltman,
13:38 one of the fathers of a missing child,
13:39 Matthew. He's desperate for answers.
13:41 Spends his nights falling asleep in the
13:43 bed of his missing son. His actions, his
13:45 frustration, his anger are directed at
13:47 Justine, at the situation, but they have
13:49 more to do with himself than the guilt
13:51 he carries inside. the guilt of being an
13:53 emotionally distant dad who never really
13:55 expressed his love for his son. Roland
13:57 depicts Archer's torment with such
13:59 intensity and heartbreak. Though no
14:01 stranger to playing father figures, this
14:03 is his most honest and compelling effort
14:05 yet. Coming part and parcel with the
14:08 film's best fbomb drop. Through Archer,
14:10 we see how his hyperfixation on the same
14:12 footage, the tangible, the act of his
14:14 son running away only causes him to run
14:17 in circles. He's not really open to
14:18 other perspectives because it doesn't
14:20 align with the limited facts he has.
14:22 Archer is a practical man looking for
14:24 rational answers in the wrong place,
14:26 pouring over the same footage over and
14:28 over again. And while he's doing more
14:30 than the police, his motivation is
14:32 stunted by a onetrack mind. He's only
14:34 viewing the situation one way, acting
14:37 irrationally and purporting to be
14:39 rational. Perhaps it's only human nature
14:40 to try to intellectualize and
14:42 rationalize an irrational response, but
14:45 it drives a wedge between us and the
14:46 very people who could be helping him,
14:48 aka Justine. Which is why it's great
14:50 when they eventually put aside their
14:52 differences and link up to work together
14:54 and actually get somewhere again. The
14:56 obsession over the why obfiscates the
14:58 ability to actually solve the problem
15:00 and prevent it from happening again. And
15:02 then there's Marcus, played by the
15:04 subtly brilliant Benedict Wong, the
15:06 principal unwilling to confront
15:07 uncomfortable truths about his students
15:09 welfare, who represents the insidious
15:11 passivity that enables horrors like the
15:13 disappearance of Miss Gandy's class. His
15:15 willful ignorance, fear of negative
15:16 attention, and unwillingness to
15:18 challenge glaring red flags, reflect a
15:20 broader selfishness that endangers
15:22 future generations, the students he's
15:24 supposed to look after. You get the
15:26 sense that he has a subconscious fear
15:28 born from his own uncomfortability being
15:30 a gay man living with his partner in a
15:31 predominantly heteronormative
15:33 environment. It's not outside the realm
15:35 of possibility that should he get
15:36 involved, come to the defense of
15:38 Justine, or challenge the glaringly
15:40 obvious abnormalities that he would be
15:42 ostracized, the victim of bigotry and
15:44 judgment, akin to Justine from a
15:47 community waiting to turn on them, a gay
15:49 boogeyman, if you will, to go with the
15:50 witch. Even when confronted with the
15:52 answers, Glattis, Alex's witch aunt,
15:54 who's a composite of Mini Castette from
15:56 Rosemary's Baby, Betty Davis, and Baby
15:58 Girl and [ __ ] Robert Blake in Lost
16:01 Highway, he remains in denial. Her
16:03 unnerving appearance paired with her
16:05 showing up at his house and performing
16:07 witchcraft should be a dead giveaway.
16:09 It's hilarious to the audience, but his
16:11 persistent denial is ultimately his
16:13 undoing. He allows a deceptive old
16:16 crone, literally causing people to snap,
16:18 to manipulate his instincts. His
16:20 abstraction of the norm reaches a point
16:22 that allows for his greatest fear to
16:24 come true, metaphorically becoming the
16:27 victim of a hate crime. If suburbia is a
16:29 microcosm of the larger problems going
16:30 on in America, then what happens with
16:33 Marcus is a microcosm of what happened
16:35 with the kids. So much of this film
16:37 functions as a response to how, at least
16:39 in American culture, we've gotten
16:41 comfortable normalizing objectively
16:43 abnormal or awful things. And the people
16:45 ultimately on the front lines of this
16:47 societal paralysis are our children.
16:49 They're soldiers in a domestic war for
16:51 prolonging the comfort, youth, and
16:53 excess of our parents and our parents'
16:55 parents. Kger understands this and
16:57 brilliantly employs powerful imagery
17:00 such as the chilling echo of the napalm
17:01 girl as the children flee their homes at
17:04 the witching hour. The story is set in a
17:05 small Florida town and the children
17:08 disappear at 2:17 a.m. This naturally
17:10 calls to mind the tragic Parkland
17:11 shooting that occurred in Florida on
17:13 Valentine's Day. 17 children lost their
17:15 lives in the second month of the year.
17:17 In the case of weapons, 17 students
17:20 vanished, leaving two survivors, Alex
17:22 and Justine. That can't be a coincidence
17:24 with how meticulous everything else here
17:26 is. And it doesn't stop there. Archer's
17:27 son, one of the missing children, is
17:29 named Matthew, indicating a deeper
17:31 relevance to weapons, preoccupations,
17:33 and the significance of 217. Yes, I'm
17:35 going to go there. I think it's
17:37 interesting. In the Bible, Matthew 21:17
17:38 refers to the slaughter of the innocents
17:40 in Bethlehem by King Herod so that he
17:42 would not be usurped by the newborn
17:44 king, baby Jesus. The passage reads,
17:46 "Then was fulfilled that was spoken by
17:48 the prophet Jeremiah, which is followed
17:50 by a quote from Jeremiah 31:15 about
17:53 Rachel weeping for her children." This
17:55 is echoed in Archer's guiltridden
17:57 obsession, which in turn fuels
17:59 nightmares about his son's disappearance
18:01 as he follows the same path as his son
18:03 from the security camera footage. A
18:07 flashing 217 and floating AR-15 loom
18:09 large over the house Archer wanders into
18:11 amidst this fever dream. The
18:13 metaphorical and very real weapon that
18:16 floats above plain as day. And yet the
18:19 very obvious point avoids Archer and
18:20 those like him. It's not a satisfying
18:22 enough answer. Not only is this imagery
18:24 about as subtle as a sledgehammer and
18:26 indicative of our problem with gun
18:27 violence in America, but it explains why
18:29 tragedies like this are so prominent in
18:32 suburban areas. Czechov's assault rifle
18:34 isn't hiding under the table. It's
18:38 staring us dead in the face. And yet, we
18:39 choose to ignore it. That mixed with an
18:41 environment that allows troubled home
18:43 lives to fester is a lethal clip waiting
18:45 to be unloaded. There's something
18:47 unsettling about the suburbs and the
18:49 benality of it that Kger weaponizes
18:51 against us. Similar to Barbarian, he
18:52 turns our familiarity with these
18:54 seemingly safe places of comfort into
18:56 our worst nightmares. Perhaps it's the
18:58 fact that suburbia in general is this
19:00 weird facade used to cover up and
19:02 seclude people from the realities of the
19:05 world, leading to disassociation. That
19:07 disassociation becomes the root cause of
19:10 the tragedies that befall places like
19:12 Maybrook and the inability to reconcile
19:14 with the possibility of evil that has
19:16 wormed its way into a place thought to
19:19 be incorruptible. This dissociation
19:20 leads to irresponsible parents who
19:23 implicitly trust borderline strangers in
19:25 estranged family members like Glattis.
19:27 out of a sense of obligation to show
19:29 hospitality as their parents did despite
19:32 it contradicting all logical impulses.
19:33 It's pretty clear from the get-go that
19:35 Glattus is not a good person and yeah,
19:36 we're just going to, you know, we're
19:38 just going to invite her in, right?
19:40 Yeah, that makes total sense. It's whole
19:42 tragedies that are preventable, but
19:44 because the very obvious signs were
19:47 ignored and invited in, they happened.
19:49 It's Alex, whose parents are neglecting
19:51 his emotional well-being and needs
19:53 compounded by him being bullied at
19:55 school, being treated so inhumanely by
19:57 Matthew, Archer's son, due to the issues
19:59 that he has with his dad. That only
20:01 served to further push Alex to aid
20:03 Glattis in her abduction of the class.
20:05 If it saves his parents, then, you know,
20:07 that's all that matters. It's the thing
20:09 that he should be doing. All the while,
20:12 Justine is the only person to notice
20:13 Alex might not be all right. There's a
20:15 problem at home that spilled over into
20:17 his attitude in the classroom. And yet,
20:19 despite her attempt, the signs of his
20:21 forthcoming actions go unnoticed by
20:23 everyone else. The facade remains
20:26 intact, shielding the rot from being
20:29 addressed. The irony of this is that all
20:30 one has to do is take a closer look
20:32 around and they'd recognize that things
20:34 are not as idyllic as they appear. Gone
20:36 is the allure of suburbia, if there ever
20:39 was one. And in its place exists a
20:41 decaying haven of isolation and
20:43 entitlement, lacking in empathy. tearing
20:45 itself apart from the inside. You have
20:47 teachers on trial for doing their job,
20:49 affectionless parents, relapsing
20:50 alcoholic cops who take their
20:52 self-hatred out on any perp they happen
20:54 to cross paths with, children bullied
20:55 and under great duress at home from an
20:57 abusive relative and/or irresponsible
21:00 parents. This is hardly an ideal place
21:02 to live. It's a pressure cooker of
21:04 everything wrong in America. The
21:07 abstraction of normality writ large, the
21:09 paranoia that permeates a community and
21:11 the fear stoked by sensationalist media.
21:14 the Fox Newsification of the domestic.
21:16 The real horror, the perpetrators, the
21:18 leeches, are the ones we least suspect.
21:21 And yet, they paradoxically couldn't be
21:23 more obvious if given an ounce of
21:25 thought. We live in a society directed
21:28 by self-serving ghouls, the glattises of
21:30 the world who devour that which we hold
21:32 most dear, scarring the rest of us with
21:34 irreversible trauma as we furiously
21:36 scramble to reclaim our lives. Police
21:38 become puppets, teachers, scapegoats,
21:41 and kids collateral damage. I found you,
21:43 Archer says, cradling his lost son in
21:45 his arms, showering him with the
21:47 affection he had neglected to show
21:49 prior. However, as the narration in the
21:51 beginning indicates, these kids, Matthew,
21:52 Matthew,
21:55 >> they never came back.
21:57 >> That's the tragedy of weapons. It's a
22:00 story about how we fail our kids even
22:02 when we have every opportunity to write
22:05 the ship, to change the status quo. Miss
22:07 Gandy's class may have violently torn
22:09 their abductor apart with glee. And I
22:11 mean, don't worry, I took part in that
22:13 glee as well. But the damage is already
22:15 done. There's no real solution from
22:19 this. It just kind of is. Furious with
22:21 the status quo. Numb and helpless to do
22:24 anything about it. These kids are forced
22:25 to live with the trauma they've endured.
22:28 They walk away as shells of their former
22:30 selves. They never really come back.
22:32 With weapons, Zack Kger emerges
22:35 definitively as a vital cinematic voice,
22:37 boldly confronting uncomfortable truths
22:39 and societal hypocrisies. While its core
22:42 ideas are bleak and unnerving, similar
22:44 to Barbarian, he manages to infuse
22:46 enough wits and situational humor paired
22:48 with lynchian sendups in the best
22:50 shining homage I've ever seen to help
22:52 the medicine go down. It's a chilling
22:54 masterclass in suspense and POV
22:56 storytelling that exposes a culture with
22:58 dwindling empathy that tolerates
23:01 dehumanizing acts lingering long after
23:03 the credits have rolled. Weapons is a
23:05 haunting reminder of our complicity in
23:07 perpetuating horrors we claim to oppose
23:10 and an unsettling reflection of the
