Weapons Movie Review- Its High Rotten Tomatoes Score Says It All

Forget Sinners (2025). Forget 28 Years Later (2025). Forget Bring Her Back (2025). Weapons (2025) is the new horror hit of 2025 that has left the critics as well as the audience utterly stupefied in terror. 

Here is our version of the Weapons movie review, which will help you decide whether to head to your nearest cinema for a full, terrifying experience of the movie or skip it for now. 

Plot details of Weapons (2025)

The official synopsis of the film Weapons (2025) states that all but one kid of the same class disappear into the night at 2:17 am in the fictional town of Maybrook. The story is about the events taking place after the disappearance of 17 children who wake up at night, walk out of their doors, and never come back. 

All the parents are angry over Miss Justine (played by Julia Garner), who they think is the witch. Archer (Josh Brolin) is the angriest one and tries his best to punish Justine so that she tells him where the kids actually are.

Justine keeps asserting that she does not know about the kids, but does set out on a journey herself to find the truth. She thinks about Alex (Cary Christopher), that one boy who did not go out into the night, and decides to visit his home.

But what she sees there is quite alarming, and that is exactly when disturbing things start happening around the town.

Watch the trailer here for a quick recap:

Actors’ performances in Weapons (2025)

Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Cary Christopher, and of course, Amy Madigan (who played the role of Gladys Lilly- Alex’s vicious aunt who came to live with them) were excellent above all. Julia Garner is the confused and helpless teacher who is seen drinking most of the time.

Due to this, we sometimes got the impression that she might be imagining things, especially the crazy banging at her door at night. However, she was desperate to find answers herself so that she could prove to the people of the town that she was not involved in the disappearance of children. 

Josh Brolin is one of the parents who does not want to spare Julia Garner’s Justine. He goes to the police and approaches Justine himself so that he can get answers out of her. However, he was surprised to see what Justine had to go through at the gas station when Marcus (Benedict Wong) came running straight at her, exactly the same way kids went running out through the doors, with their arms spread apart. 

Brolin’s Archer was shocked to know when Justine told him about Alex and his mysterious home with windows covered with newspapers all over. Archer frailly makes an alliance with Justine and heads towards Alex’s home, who is a mere innocent kid, just wanting Amy Madigan’s Gladys to leave their home and his parents alone.  

Strictly following Aunt Gladys’s orders, not telling anyone at school about her presence at home or what she had done to Alex’s parents, Alex keeps following her sinister orders. He does not want Aunt Gladys to hurt her parents more, as she showed Alex the demo the next day at the dining table once.  

Amy Madigan as Lilly Gladys is fabulous! Though at her first appearance at the school, when she came to talk with Marcus, she looked quite similar to Nicolas Cage’s Longlegs character. Her makeup and overall physical appearance looked quite absurd, which gave us some serious creeps. 

Other noteworthy performances were those of Austin Abrams, who played the drug addict and was somehow pulled into the notorious house by Aunt Gladys. And also Alden Ehrenreich, who played Paul. He went to the house after getting a tip from a drug addict that he saw one of the kids at that house, but both were “weaponized” by Aunt Gladys, unfortunately.

So was Wong’s Marcus, who was as horrifying as the rest of the jump scares of the film.  

What do critics add to Weapons movie review?

The critics’ consensus on Rotten Tomatoes gave a positive review of Weapons (2025), saying, 

“Zach Cregger spins an expertly crafted yarn of terrifying mystery and thrilling intrigue in Weapons, a sophomore triumph that solidifies his status as a master of horror.” [Source]

The critics were of the view that Weapons is deeply engaging, from the beginning to the end. It is equipped with all the elements of a good horror movie, calling it “an unorthodox horror movie”. The critics loved the ending and felt that this was the best closure that such a terrific horror film should have. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Fans reaction

Fans were slightly less enthusiastic about Weapons (2025) as they found the film “funny” but surprising as well. A few of them called it “overhyped,” and not much of the narrative made sense. 

The general audience thinks that the Barbarian (2022) director, Zach Cregger’s filmmaking was brilliant, while the context of the story does not feel compelling. After building an emotional connection with the characters, the momentum felt disappointing at several places. 

Is it worth watching?

For me, it definitely is worth watching. After a long time, possibly after Longlegs (2024), I found something worth talking and raving about. I loved how the film began and how it ended.

Talking about the beginning- did you notice the small triangle in the middle of ‘O’ in the name Weapons? It was right there from the start when we knew something evil was about to unfurl. 

The best thing I liked about the movie was the story’s progression with each character’s details and viewpoint into the story. I loved how the story took shape from one character to another. It gave us a detailed glimpse of what one character was doing and feeling when the other was standing somewhere else. For example, when Justine pleasantly waved at Paul, whereas Paul was not in a good mood, we had seen the backstory of Paul just five minutes ago. Superb!  

I have no words for the uncanny resemblance of Amy Madigan as Lilly Gladys to Nicolas Cage’s Longlegs character, as I was petrified by Longlegs, and I was equally intimidated by the plain looks of Aunt Gladys. Something uneasy triggered in my brain, although she was smiling and was strangely calm.

I loved her peaceful yet unsettling aura at Marcus’s house when she wanted a water bowl instead of a glass of water. The film caught my throat and kept me hooked till the end since, like everyone else, I definitely wanted to know whether those 17 children would be saved or not. 

P.S. Did not like the sign of a gun with 2:17 am shining on it- the image was part of Archer’s dream, but totally unwanted and ‘meh’.  

What we liked

• Amy Madigan’s chilling performance 
• Character-driven narrative
• Julia Garner’s complex role 
• Strong start and ending 
• Direction and atmosphere

What could be better

• Pacing issues midway
• Overcrowded subplots
• Unclear symbolism

Here’s a detailed breakdown of our rating for Weapons (2025)

Story/plot	9/10
Characters and acting	9/10
Direction and pacing	9/10
Visuals and cinematography	9/10
Soundtrack/score	8.5/10
Themes and message	7/10
Emotional impact	8/10
Creativity/originality	9.5/10
Rewatchability	9/10

Our rating: 8

Is Weapons (2025) available for streaming?

New Line Cinema distributes Weapons (2025) (rated R) in cinemas for now. It is currently not available for online streaming. 

Genre: Horror, mystery, thriller

IMDb rating: 7.9

Rotten Tomatoes: 95 percent on Tomatometer (critics’ score) and 87 percent on Popcornmeter

Cast: Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, June Diane Raphael, Alden Ehrenreich, Benedict Wong, Amy Madigan, Brian Tyree Henry, Tom Burke, Austin Abrams

Director: Zach Cregger

Writer: Zach Cregger

Producer: Roy Lee, Miri Yoon, J.D. Lifshitz, Raphael Margules

Release date: August 8, 2025

Movie runtime: 2 hours 8 minutes  

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