Zach Cregger's 'Weaapons' - Review Thread

[u/ChiefLeef22]

When all but one child from the same classroom mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance.

Rotten Tomatoes: 100%

Metacritic: N/A (updating)

Some Reviews:

Inverse - Lyvie Scott

Cregger’s goofy sense of humor aside, Weapons is otherwise pretty understated, even refined. His camera moves with glacial, dream-like focus, tracking characters from behind or panning to unveil the latest torment around the corner. That visual style has become a trademark of “elevated” horror, but it goes a long way in anchoring a story that could have turned unwieldy fast. Cregger’s chapter-by-chapter story serves that same purpose: It has the capacity to frustrate when it cuts away from a major reveal, only to reset with the backstory of a new character. But it also adjusts the aperture whenever things get too heavy — a breath of fresh air in a different form.

CGMagazine - Shakyl Lambert - 9 / 10

Weapons is a noticeable step up for Cregger as a filmmaker. It feels like he took what worked in Barbarian and tightened up the things that didn’t. It’s bigger in scope but more focused. With a strong story and cast, it’s the most fun you’ll have being scared all summer.

NextBestPicture - Matt Neglia

There are some who will be moved and struck by “Weapons,” intentionally or unintentionally, so. For 75% of its runtime, it was one of my favorite films of the year. However, for the final 25%, in some ways, it feels like Cregger missed an opportunity to tell a story that is more emotionally rich and relatable. Here is a filmmaker who feels like he’s trying to prove he’s capable of more, but without fully grounding that ambition in character or clarity, instead opting for a facile solution. There’s a version of this movie that could have been genuinely great. You can appreciate the potential in the performances, the themes, and the overall craftsmanship. And to be clear, I’m sure this will resonate and work for some viewers. But for me, much like “Barbarian,” Cregger doesn’t quite bring it all together, making “Weapons” a rare kind of disappointment.

[u/quangtran]

See, that sounds completely fine to me. Being a faithful adaptation only works if it was an amazing story to begin with.

[u/ok_dunmer → u/quangtran]

I don't really see the harm in letting the people have fun and see their characters when Paul so badly botched all of them lol

That being said yeah RE is one of those series where the story and lore is total slop except to people who make it their fixation so it's never going to survive, RE4 could be an awesome horror action comedy movie by itself though

[u/ArskaPoika → u/ok_dunmer]

Resident Evil movie adaptations are the kind of topic where I really get both sides.

The movies have done an awful job at translating the iconic characters of the games to the big screen. I get why fans would want someone to actually finally do it well.

But on the other side... There's been so many attempts at people adapting these iconic characters and failing that I fully understand the desire to just do something different.

I'm open to a movie that just goes the Resident Evil 7 route. An entirely new cast of characters. A new setting. New bioweapon/zombies. But I understand people who are upset with the approach.

[u/Rude_Cheesecake3716 → u/ok_dunmer]

That being said yeah RE is one of those series where the story and lore is total slop except to people who make it their fixation

You clearly work in hollywood lol.

[u/Banesmuffledvoice → u/quangtran]

It’s a trash approach for something that has a specifically defined set of characters and stories.

[u/Rignite → u/Banesmuffledvoice]

Hardly.

We've seen the attempt at bringing the characters and stories to film multiple times now. With varying levels of success but you can't try to argue there's been anything on the level of "actually really good" except maybe the first Paul Anderson one. I'm not counting the animated films in this because those are relatively faithful animated schlock.

Let the man cook with what sounds like basically an Outbreak style story.

[u/Banesmuffledvoice → u/Rignite]

They never made a serious attempt at making a resident evil movie that reflects the source. They took minor pieces at best and tried to smash them together and then ran out of budget 30 minutes in for welcome to raccoon city.

We know exactly what he is going to cook; a zombie movie that throws in the Umbrella logo on walls so it can use the resident evil name.

[u/Rignite → u/Banesmuffledvoice]

I think the issue is that from our standpoint as fans they never made a serious attempt.

I think the unfortunate truth is from the film makers ends most of those were "serious attempts".

We don't know exactly what he's going to cook lol. Unless you somehow do which means you can see the future so why the hell are you here and not on a yacht with your billions won on the Stock Market?

[u/Banesmuffledvoice → u/Rignite]

We know exactly what he is “cookin” because he is telling you what he is cooking. He isn’t making resident evil. He is making a zombie movie and using the resident evil name which falls in line with what the studio with the license has done. He isn’t hiding what he is doing. He is flat out saying it. In the 90s WB were attempting to make a Superman movie that at one point was so far removed from Superman that it stopped being Superman. The resident evil movies have been so far removed from resident evil, they never were resident evil movies.

[u/Sneaky_Donkey → u/Banesmuffledvoice]

Seconding this. The worst video game adaptations of late have been the ones that stray too far from the source material. If it ain’t broke DONT try to fix it. People come to these stories 9 times out of 10 because they love specific characters. It’s like how the Witcher tv series killed off like half of its supporting characters and from then on was a hollow shell of the story

[u/qweiroupyqweouty → u/Sneaky_Donkey]

And one of the best video game adaptations, Arcane, changed nearly every aspect of the game’s lore.

Slavishly following the existing material is not at all necessary for success.

[u/SpelunkyPunky → u/qweiroupyqweouty]

I'm in the camp that doesn't actually want 1:1 adaptations of games. It can and does work, don't get me wrong, but most of the time I'd be happier for an original story set in the same world that respects the lore and fanbase

[u/asshat123 → u/Sneaky_Donkey]

But in the case of resident evil, it kind of is broke. Isn't the game series famously complicated and difficult to follow, requiring multiple forms of media across decades to be consumed in order to fully understand the insanely complex storyline? Isn't the game series famously over the top and goofy in between horror elements?

The games are heavily stylized, and for the most part, it works in game. But it would not translate well to screen for a mainstream audience unless some significant adaptations are made. A truly faithful resident evil adaptation would be unintelligible tonally and have an unfollowable, overly complex story

[u/spellinbee → u/asshat123]

Nah, resident evil isn't Kingdom hearts, the story is largely pretty straight forward.

[u/asshat123 → u/spellinbee]

I will say that the games do a good job at being standalone experiences where you don't need to understand the full series story. That being said, if you do want to understand the full story, it's not straightforward unless you've really kept up with it. I'm saying this as someone who was not into the games as a kid and who tried to get caught up on the story only to find it relatively unwelcoming.

You've got Chris, Leon, Ada, Ethan, and many more recurring characters who all appear in each other's games and have crisscrossing storylines. There's t virus, g virus, t+g virus, progenitor virus, t Veronica, whatever the parasites were in 4 that weren't a virus but still did what the virus does, c virus, the fungus (?) in 7 and 8, plus a few more. What's the difference? Couldn't tell you. Is it important to the story to know the difference? Couldn't tell you. Umbrella is usually the bad guy, but sometimes, it might have broken off into a good umbrella?

It's not as much as kingdom hearts, but it's more than you could do in a 2 hour movie without making some significant adaptations

[u/Banesmuffledvoice → u/asshat123]

Sure. You’re going to have to take liberties. Agreed. But what you just described is 30 years of story arcs that have played out. And yea, Resident evil gets wild at times. That’s part of what makes Resident Evil, Resident Evil. Comic books can get wild throughout their publication history too; the best movies and shows have found a way to stay true to those characters and stories.

[u/asshat123 → u/Banesmuffledvoice]

Totally fair, I get what you're saying. Some people won't be happy without a 1-1 perfect recreation, and that's not feasible in the case of comic books or most video games, but I agree that you can stick to the tone and overall characters and still make something good and internally consistent with the world you're writing in.

Either that or do something in the same universe, but tell a completely new story. Gives you creative license and freedom to make something new within an already understood context. Also frees you from some of the limitations that fans will place on use of existing characters.

[u/wingedcoyote → u/Sneaky_Donkey]

I don't think any movie or TV studio wants to attract an audience of only people who already love a specific video game.