Weapons | Film Review

When all but one child from the same class vanish on the same night, the community is left searching for answers. Where did the children go? Will they ever come back? Who is behind their disappearance?

I was looking forward to this film, but I was also a bit apprehensive. I heard so many amazing things that I was a bit worried I wouldn't like it as much as the general public seemed to.

Thankfully, I absolutely loved this film! I thought it was amazing.

I don't even know where to start.

It's such an original and unique concept. The description itself could lead to so many different outcomes, but when you actually see the film and understand exactly what's happening, it's such a creative, inventive idea. The more you understand it, the more amazing it is.

The performances were great. The cast includes Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Cary Christopher, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Benedict Wong and Amy Madigan, and they were all amazing in their roles. They brought the right feelings out of the audience at the right times, they created characters we could either root for or against, and as a lot has been said about alternative casts, I really don't think the film would work this well with any other cast. 

I loved the way the story was told. We get to hear equally from each character and we get different perspectives on the same events, which is so interesting and engaging. 

I didn't expect the film to be especially scary, and I particularly didn't expect it to be funny, so it was a really nice surprise to have both of these things. The scariness for me was less in jump scares and gimmicks and more in the actual story. Living in that town, in that world, would genuinely be scary, and I think the film played on this really well. But the jump scares were also done really well, and some of the imagery (particularly around a certain character) made these scenes really memorable.

And then the humour! There were scenes that had the whole cinema laughing and that made it a lot of fun. The humour felt realistic and authentic.

Speaking of being in the cinema, hearing the reactions to all the scenes was so much fun. This is the perfect film to see with an audience.

Everything about this film just worked for me. The writing, the direction, the small links to Barbarian (which was one of my favourite films the year it came out), it was such a fantastic cinema experience. I've seen it twice and loved it even more the second time around - I can't wait to see it again!

9.5/10