Weapons (2025) Review: Zach Cregger’s New Thriller Starring Julia Garner and Josh Brolin Is a Puzzle Box of Terror

Weapons

Directed by: Zach Cregger

Written by: Zach Cregger

Starring: Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Amy Madigan, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams

Release Date: August 8, 2025

Rating: ★★★★★

A Chilling Opening and an Unforgettable Image

Weapons opens with a dream sequence: a grieving father looks to the night sky and sees the shape of an AR-15 rifle. The association is immediate — American school shootings — and the temptation to interpret it as a key to the mystery is strong.

But director Zach Cregger might just be toying with us. By this point, we know 17 children from Maybrook, Pennsylvania, vanished at 2:17 AM, each leaving home at the same moment. The rifle image could be a symbol… or it could be a red herring. That uncertainty is part of Weapons’ unsettling allure.

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Julia Garner’s Haunted Teacher

Julia Garner delivers a layered performance as Justine Gandy, a local teacher who arrives at school to find only one student present — the others among the 17 missing. Her confusion quickly turns to personal crisis as suspicion from parents and investigators grows.

With her career in freefall and past struggles with alcohol resurfacing, Justine becomes fixated on Alex (Cary Christopher), the only student who showed up that day, hoping he holds the truth about what happened.

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Josh Brolin’s Obsessed Father

Josh Brolin plays Archer, the father of one of the missing kids. His marriage is crumbling, his construction business is suffering, and his grief is morphing into obsession. Convinced Justine knows more than she admits, Archer begins secretly following her — a decision that will lead him into the story’s darkest corners.

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A Dangerous Encounter Between Cop and Junkie

In another thread, Officer Paul Morgan (Alden Ehrenreich) is drowning in guilt after a drunken night with Justine leads to infidelity. When he catches a junkie named James (Austin Abrams) breaking into a store, he lets him go — warning him to leave town.

But James doesn’t leave. Desperate for drug money, he breaks into a house and stumbles upon the missing children. What follows is a tense, dangerous sequence that pushes both men toward a shocking climax.

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Amy Madigan’s Career-Best Performance

All storylines eventually lead to a character played by Amy Madigan, delivering what may be the best performance of her career. Far from her warm and supportive role in Field of Dreams, Madigan’s work here is physical, fierce, and unforgettable. It’s the kind of performance that shifts how an actor is remembered.

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The Cinema of Cool

From the eerie child’s voiceover that opens and closes the film to the unnerving imagery scattered through its chapters, Weapons is what I call “The Cinema of Cool.” It’s not about answering every question — it’s about the thrill of being inside a mystery you can’t stop thinking about.

Whether you see Weapons as a deep parable or simply a beautifully crafted campfire story for our modern age, Zach Cregger has created one of 2025’s most intriguing and haunting films.

I've posted another review of Weapons at Medium.com/Reelscope, my new publication where I am writing daily themed reviews, lengthy deep dives, and a column called Opening Shots where I write about the greatest opening scenes in movie history. This week I wrote about the incredible opening scene of Charles Laughton's masterpiece The Night of the Hunter. Read the article at this link.

Medium members can read the article for free and subscribe to Reelscope on Medium for all of my newest writing.

Tags: Weapons movie review, Weapons 2025, Zach Cregger, Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Amy Madigan, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, 2025 thriller, mystery films, psychological horror, Cinema of Cool, opening weekend movies