One of the best films of the summer is “Weapons,” written, directed and partially scored by Zach Cregger. (Cregger is listed as collaborating on some of the music along with Hays Holladay and Ryan Holladay.) Cregger’s previous film, “Barbarian” (2022) marked him as a talent to watch. The script for “Weapons” went through a bidding war between Universal and Netflix. For a while, Jordan Peele (“Us,” “Nope,” “Get Out“) was also in the running to make this horror film.
CAST
The actors in this one are Top Notch. Julia Garner (“Ozark”) portrays Justine Gandy, a teacher at Maybroo(k Elementary School (grades 1 through 5). Justine’s entire class of 18 students—with the one exception of Alex Lilly (Cary Christopher)—disappears in the night and, says the ads, “they never came back.” I was concerned that, like the television series “The Leftovers” (2014, Justin Theroux) we would never get a coherent explanation of how or why these kids seemingly disappeared. Rest assured, we do get that explanation. The line (Julia Garner’s) that sums things up: “There’s something very very wrong going on.”
The cast member getting most of the accolades for her performance is Julia Garner as Justine Gandy. I’d like to put in a vote for the always-excellent Amy Madigan as Gladys. (Amy has been married to fellow actor Ed Harris for 42 years.) Madigan’s appearance in “Field of Dreams” is one of her best-known. She was nominated for an Oscar in 1986 as Best Supporting Actress for “Twice in a Lifetime.”Oddly enough, one of Madigan’s castmates in this film, Alden Ehrenreich (as Paul Morgan) was named for the writer/director of “Field of Dreams,” University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop writer Phil Alden Robinson, who is a close friend of Ehrenreich’s parents.
Alden Ehrenreich (with mustache).
Ehrenreich rose to fame as Hobie Doyle, the lasso afficionado in the Coen Brothers film “Hail, Caesar” (2016). The 36-year-old has been working since 2009. He made his feature film debut in Francis Ford Coppola‘s film Tetro (2009), and appeared in Coppola’s subsequent film Twixt (2011). He was discovered by Steven Spielberg at the Bar Mitzah of a friend of Spielberg’s daughter. Apparently there was some Big Discussion of whether or not he should have a mustache “Weapons,” which Ehrenreich won by riding with real cops and finding out that most of them had ‘stashes. The mustache kept me from instantly being able to place who he was, but seeing his name in the credits jogged my memory.
Do we need to do more than mention Josh Brolin’s name? He (and Pedro Pascal) seem to be in everything these days. Brolin even joked about Pedro not being in this one (Pascal had to go be in “The Fantastic Four,” poor guy, and bailed.) My favorite Josh Brolin films? Too many to name, but let’s not forget “No Country for Old Men” (2007). Originally, Pedro Pascal the ubiquitous leading man—was to have played Brolin’s part, but he bolted to be in “The Fantastic Four.”
Cary Christopher plays the young sole survivor of the disappearance, Alex Lilly. The young actor is terrific in the part. He is going to be appearing in “High Potential” ( set to premiere on September 17th) and “Spider-Noir” in 2026. He was as good in his part as Haley Joel Osment in “The Sixth Sense.”
It is Julia Garner’s elementary school class that disappears. She portrays teacher Justine Gandy and carries the entire film on her slim shoulders. “Ozark” fans will be happy to see the talented actress, who portrayed Ruth Langmore (2017) in that series, in “Weapons.” Josh Brolin has been singing her praises on late-night television for weeks now, and his praise is well-deserved.
BENEDICT WONG
As the gay administrator Marcus, Benedict Wong (“Dr. Strange”) does a great job taking his story arc from reasonable school administrator to deranged over-the-top nut job. It’s a horrifyingly watchable direction. His attacks on Justine (and Josh Brolin as Archer Graff) are riveting. Trust Cregger to figure out how to end Wong’s journey onscreen in a bloody good way.
SCRIPT
For a movie like this to work, the story must involve original thought, an original premise, and excellent execution. All are present in “Weapons,” thanks to Writer/Director Zach Cregger. Cregger even gets a credit for composing some of the music, although, in each of his features, the sound effects are from nature, involve no music, or are more primitive noises in many scenes. Thumping sounds. Screams. Pulsing heartbeats (in “Barbarian”)—all are effective.
THEMES
Writer/Director Zach Cregger.
Moral ambiguity existed in “Barbarian” with Justin Long’s character (Long makes a small appearance in this one, as Gary, a neighbor who shares ring camera footage with Josh Brolin). In “Weapons” Cregger has a message about the universal need to “blame.” The teacher whose entire class disappeared is judged and found guilty by the community. Both Miss Gandy and the cop played by Alden Ehrenreich (Paul Morgan) have substance abuse issues. There are fidelity in marriage issues. Josh Brolin’s father figure may also have regrets involving his parenting. Comparisons to Jack Nicholson’s door-breaking scenes in “The Shining” may occur during the climactic scenes involving Alex’s parents within the spooky house. They are extremely frightening, as was the dinner table scene. (No elementary school-age children in the room, please.)
CONCLUSION
This is a good one. It will be fun watching the direction that Zach Cregger’s work takes next. If you like this one, check out “Barbarian”(2022) on Neflix before it leaves on August 31st.
