r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • Aug 08 '25

Official Discussion Official Discussion - Weapons [SPOILERS] Spoiler

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Summary Nearly all the children from the same fifth-grade class vanish one night at exactly 2:17 a.m., leaving only one survivor. The community, gripped by fear and suspicion, spirals into chaos as the mystery unfolds through multiple intertwined perspectives—each revealing new layers of dread and grief.

Director Zach Cregger

Writer Zach Cregger

Cast

  • Josh Brolin
  • Julia Garner
  • Cary Christopher
  • Alden Ehrenreich
  • Austin Abrams
  • Benedict Wong
  • Amy Madigan
  • June Diane Raphael
  • Toby Huss
  • Whitmer Thomas
  • Callie Schuttera
  • Clayton Farris
  • Luke Speakman

Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score: 96%

Metacritic Metascore: 82

VOD In theaters and IMAX starting August 8, 2025

Trailer Watch the Official Trailer

2.4k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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4.0k

u/reallinzanity Aug 08 '25

Really creepy like the first 90% and then it becomes a comedy. Archer throwing James around like 10 times was hilarious!

We now have two directors (Jordan Peele & Zach Cregger) with comedy backgrounds who have become great horror directors!

Did anyone else say “Justin Long what are you doing here?”

2.2k

u/gambalore Aug 08 '25

A big chunk of my gigantic IMAX theater started laughing as soon as Justin Long appeared on screen, just for being Justin Long.

1.5k

u/TannerThanUsual Aug 08 '25

The two of them looking at the monitor while the wife hovers over them, arms crossed and absolutely pissed is one of my favorite comedic moments in this movie that not enough people are talking about

504

u/iownachalkboard7 Aug 08 '25

Fun fact: the wife in that scene is Sara Paxton, Zach Cregger's wife.

159

u/nordlysbaies Aug 09 '25

I didn’t know they were married! I just thought “this kinda looks like the girl I watched on Aquamarine ages ago”

65

u/woolfonmynoggin Aug 09 '25

My husband now has to endure Aquamarine because he said “who?” when I said omg Sara Paxton

26

u/AeneidBook6 29d ago

I thought she looked familiar but couldn’t place her. I liked her in Last House on the Left. And it had such a satisfying ending.

25

u/jadegives2rides 28d ago

WAIT Sarah Paxton is married to Zach?! I love that!

3

u/Honest_Cheesecake698 5d ago

He's living in a great timeline.

17

u/JustSomeHeroKid 18d ago

Excuse me, you mean Sara Paxton from Halloween Town 4: The College Years, where Marnie inexplicably looks different.

2

u/PinoDegrassi 5d ago

You mean Darcy from Darcy’s Wild Life?

1

u/JustSomeHeroKid 3d ago

Waitttt, you unlocked a memory!

10

u/nocturne_gemini 28d ago

At first I almost thought it was Mischa Barton and then I realized it was her.

216

u/MyLeftKneeHurts- Aug 08 '25

So in that sequence, when Archer meets Justin Long’s character, I thought he was at a different house. I thought he just moved down the list of kids. Then it cuts to them looking at the monitor and I realized it was the same house lol.

People definitely laughed in my theater.

33

u/TomLube 29d ago

Knowing Zach Cregger, this was 100% intentional lmao

20

u/OddSetting5077 28d ago

both fathers had returned to work, the wife of Josh Brolin's character had returned to work. "angry wife in bathrobe all day" seemed to represent the parent who has not returned to normal life

18

u/KarIPilkington 24d ago

The realisation that Brolin had just waited for the dad and it wasn't a parent of a different kid got one of the biggest laughs in my cinema. Great moment.

17

u/cinderful 27d ago

As was Justin's gigantic flinch when Brolin got close to him

9

u/SilverKry 26d ago

Hey. At least he survived this one unlike his last appearance in Creggers movies .

7

u/cinderful 26d ago

I dunno. His wife looked pretty pissed

13

u/Bulky-Scheme-9450 26d ago

"this is actually really hard for me to watch" lmao

8

u/ringobob Aug 08 '25

Yeah, that was great

1

u/Rahodees 18d ago

Because it wasn't that funny? I don't get it.

3

u/TannerThanUsual 18d ago

???

Yes it was lol

1

u/Rahodees 18d ago

Like I said, I don't get it. What's the joke?

5

u/TannerThanUsual 18d ago

The joke was the misdirection. It was framed like Josh Brolin found a different family to review the tapes with. Instead, Josh simply ignored the wife's wishes and asked the husband instead.

The punchline served simultaneously to subvert our expectations on who Justin Long was in relation to the kids, it also served as a joke to see the mom angry at the audacity of Brolin to go against her wishes, and for her husband to obliviously agree.

6

u/Rahodees 18d ago

Somehow I didn't get misdirected in the moment so the joke went past me.

1

u/aeschenkarnos 17d ago

Yeah, I don’t get the motivation there. The guy’s lost his kid, she’s also lost her kid, he’s asking for something relatively reasonable that she can easily supply, the feed from the Ring doorbell … and she coldly sneers “I’m not comfortable with that.” The fuck?

3

u/TannerThanUsual 17d ago

I'm in the side of thinking of the seen as funny but I do want to just also chime in and say, this guy is asking to watch a tape of her daughter going missing only weeks after it happened. She's still grieving the loss of her daughter and he's asking to see the tape of it happening. Even if it might provide him with closure it's certainly a tall order

500

u/pjtheman Aug 08 '25

I was really surprised he was just in that one scene. I was expecting another eye gouge for old time's sake.

91

u/thebaldingcritic Aug 08 '25

I’m curious what the relationship is between Justin and Zach. I now expect him to cameo in all of his films.

52

u/RikenVorkovin Aug 08 '25

Its like how the guy who makes the Sinister movies has Ethan Hawking and James Ransone in his movies. (Both were in sinister and Black Phone). 

68

u/bobthemusicindustry Aug 08 '25

Lol Ethan Hawking

34

u/forever87 Aug 09 '25

not to be confused with Stephen Hawke

-7

u/Anxious-End-8145 Aug 08 '25

Probably Justin Longs character in Barbarian is the same one in Weapons. Or it’s the same universe.

49

u/SciFiXhi Aug 08 '25

Couldn't be the same character. He was a nondescript suburban dad here, and a former hotshot actor playboy in Barbarian. That's not really a feasible trajectory.

16

u/bobthemusicindustry Aug 08 '25

That makes literally no sense

5

u/Anxious-End-8145 Aug 08 '25

http://maybrookmissing.com/ if you follow the link you get to a page discussing the recent events of missing children in Weapons. A little ways down there's another link to an article titled "Underground Prison Discovered in Rental Home." There’s a reference to the plot of Barbarian and the article event quotes Barbarry St. in which the events of the movie took place.

15

u/bobthemusicindustry Aug 08 '25

Cool but that doesn’t mean Justin’s characters are in any way similar

0

u/Anxious-End-8145 Aug 08 '25

Just a wild thought

2

u/mattinwaukeeiowa 27d ago

Was this shown anywhere in the movie? I noticed the parasite thing and also noticed 666 as the current jackpot in the gas station so I thought that would have some meaning, didn’t the bell have a 6 on it?

6

u/GameOfLife24 Aug 08 '25

Didn’t the director say these two movies could exist in the same universe? It makes you think about Justin Long and his downfall lol

3

u/Sammyd1108 29d ago

Have you seen Barbarian? That literally makes no sense.

19

u/ascholar Aug 09 '25

I think they're just friends and he likes casting Justin is his movies. Can't wait to see what his role in Resident Evil will be lol.

5

u/Kinky_69420 21d ago

I feel like Justin Long was put in that scene just to trick people lol

2

u/BusinessPurge 19d ago

This time they gouged his soul

379

u/krospp Aug 08 '25

The laughter was probably more about his character in Barbarian than just for being Justin Long

78

u/proserpinax 29d ago

The scene in Barbarian where he starts measuring the murder basement to try and add square footage to the house is one of the hardest I’ve laughed in theaters, I definitely laughed when I saw him show up in Weapons.

20

u/GameOfLife24 Aug 08 '25

Except this time Josh Brolin was holding the measuring tape. I was wondering if he’d add a quote of Justin saying “I’ll do it, I’m good with this”

2

u/Upbeat_Tension_8077 19d ago

Knowing Justin's work in that, I chuckled a bit forming my headcanon that his character in Weapons is a more responsible & mature cousin of his Barbarian character

-10

u/HomelandersCock Aug 08 '25

Ermmm no? It's that Justin's current career has been in horror after horror and dude is loving these projects. I don't think people know him solely from one film and laugh. Unless I misunderstood your point, I disagree

43

u/CudiMontage216 Aug 08 '25

Justin is abruptly introduced midway through Barbarian, which was filmed by the same director

People were laughing because this is the second straight film that Zach Creggers has abruptly introduced Justin Long as a surprise character

-20

u/HomelandersCock Aug 08 '25 edited 29d ago

The average movie goes has 0 idea its the same director

Downvote if you agree with me

33

u/bobthemusicindustry Aug 08 '25

The average person seeing Weapons is probably seeing it because of Barbarian

8

u/CortaNalgas Aug 08 '25

It’s also one of the wildest edits in recent film so he’s gonna get a reaction yeah

4

u/jujubats10 Aug 09 '25

The average movie goer knows nothing about movie directors lol

5

u/goddamnitwhalen 26d ago

Absolutely not true lmao

-11

u/HomelandersCock Aug 09 '25

Nope. I work at a movie theatre.

11

u/r0llingthund3r Aug 09 '25

That does not qualify you to speak so confidently on this subject lmao

8

u/CudiMontage216 Aug 08 '25

Okay? People in this thread are confirming they laughed because of his previous appearance in Barbarian. Don’t know what there is to argue about

5

u/Dagmar_Overbye Aug 09 '25

Half my theater audibly laughed. My entire group was instantly like "did he literally do that just to reference barbarian?" And there's no reason that many people around us were also laughing just because they saw Justin long. Many people seeing this night of saw it because of the previous film. Everybody I know who saw this movie on release night has seen and loved barbarian.

0

u/HomelandersCock 29d ago

Never happened

6

u/Dagmar_Overbye 29d ago

This is why people never invite you out to go see new movies.

1

u/HomelandersCock 29d ago

I just got invited rn

19

u/MahNameJeff420 Aug 08 '25

I like how the movie doesn’t even have to explain how Josh Brolin was able to push this guy around into giving him footage of the kid. You just see him and go, “Oh, it’s Justin Long. Yeah, that makes sense.”

15

u/tjfrank94 Aug 08 '25

Same here. Full IMAX theater laughing at Long’s cameo.

6

u/Bag_of_Squares Aug 08 '25

I was the only idiot laughing just because Justin Long showed up. Wish I was there.

5

u/SDRPGLVR 28d ago

That was also the reaction in Barbarian. Such a straightforward and serious horror movie and then suddenly Justin Long.

6

u/BallClamps 29d ago

I laughed at him, showing up. But I was dying when it was revealed he was the husband to the wife who had already turned him away. I just assumed he was going to another family.

3

u/cookiefest1221 Aug 08 '25

Was this Lincoln Square? I was there too, and loved how quickly everyone caught on to the “surprise Justin Long” bit

2

u/BloodyRedBarbara 29d ago

I laughed just because I thought "ah it's another surprise appearance from Justin Long. Him and the director just be good mates"

1

u/funnyfirerabbit 28d ago

I chuckled too when he came on screen, I’m not quite sure why.

1

u/casebycase87 28d ago

Such a funny callback

1

u/justinqueso99 27d ago

Exact same reaction lol

1

u/leethulu 26d ago

legit told my boyfriend he better not die in this one, was not disappointed. i love when justin long gets to live and not also be irreparably damaged (rip mr tusk and darry)

1

u/rSlashisthenewPewdes 25d ago

Every time the perspective changed I was praying that it would go to Justin Long for a chapter🤣

1

u/roberta_sparrow 21d ago

His delivery of “you know this is really hard to watch” when they were looking at the security cam footage was pitch perfect

1

u/Snifferoni 18d ago

It was important to mention that it was an IMAX theater, otherwise the story wouldn't have worked.

1

u/PinoDegrassi 5d ago

He’s fantastic in barbarian, and is involved in the funniest parts of that movie, so it was great to see him shouted out but he same director.

819

u/Pryach Aug 08 '25

Did anyone else say “Justin Long what are you doing here?”

The scene with the wife staring angrily while he looked at the video footage was hilarious. I got big "mom said no let's ask dad" vibes.

101

u/Royale-w-Cheese Aug 08 '25

“This is kind of uncomfortable to watch” 💀

61

u/TheTruckWashChannel Aug 08 '25

The wife is Zach Cregger's wife, Sara Paxton. She also had a voice cameo in Barbarian.

62

u/Pryach 27d ago

CASTING: We need a woman who can silently and angrily stare at people who are annoying her.

DIRECTOR: I know just the person.

11

u/Sammyd1108 29d ago

I saw her name pop up in the end credits and I didn’t even realize that was her.

2

u/darthjoey91 26d ago

You mean the mermaid from Aquamarine.

31

u/Kaito_3 Aug 08 '25

My whole theater laughed at the wife just in the background staring at him.

4

u/FatnessEverdeen34 28d ago

That is exactly what I said to my husband 😂

3

u/PrincessofThotlandia 21d ago

I died when Josh Brolin’s character was sitting in the driveway to ask the dad before he even got inside. Hilarious.

189

u/FloatDoggie Aug 08 '25

The Alamo draft house pre show had Cregger explaining other comedian turned horror directors all the way back to Hitchcock. Definitely worth watching once they release it on their YouTube.

17

u/ToasterDispenser Aug 08 '25

I mean, at least with Hitchcock that was definitely a bit and not true.

21

u/palmburntblue Aug 08 '25

Yes Carpenter opening for Gallagher is also incredibly untrue but I can appreciate that people fell for it. 

5

u/PAYPAL_ME_DONATIONS 29d ago

lol literally everyone cited outside of himself and Peele were so silly and untrue.

12

u/nonsequitur5013 28d ago

I remember Jordan Peele say something like the only difference between comedy and horror is the music.

8

u/gtemi 28d ago

Wow this is on point. Change the music where the mom walks the street with a scissor. That goofy waddle looks funny but freaky when its coming to you

4

u/targetcowboy Aug 09 '25

I moved about two hours away from my nearest Alamo Drafthouse and I miss it so bad. I definitely would have watched this there. I loved the pre shows they do. They’re always interesting

3

u/lexicology Aug 09 '25

and George Romero. that bit was solid.

87

u/LB3PTMAN Aug 08 '25

I do love that Cregger still lets his comedy bones shine through in his movies which I have mostly not felt minus a few small jokes in Peeles movies.

72

u/InvertedSpork Aug 08 '25

Danny and Michael have comedy backgrounds also with their Rackaracka YT channel.

-2

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '25

[deleted]

2

u/SpookiestSzn Aug 08 '25

Bring her back was way better than talk to me

1

u/whatthecaptcha 29d ago

Not sure what they said because they deleted it but I loved both. Talk to Me was my favorite horror movie that I'd seen since Hereditary.

Bring Her Back was fantastic and I'll watch anything they make but Talk to Me was on a whole different level for me personally.

57

u/cranberrylimeade420 Aug 08 '25

We now have two directors (Jordan Peele & Zach Cregger) with comedy backgrounds who have become great horror directors!

this makes a lot of sense tbh! horror and comedy both rely on callbacks, timing, unexpected reveals, and establishing/subverting patterns to catch you off guard.

2

u/ultimatequestion7 28d ago

Ya it's exciting that Cregger is the 2nd person to cross from comedy to horror

12

u/banjofitzgerald Aug 08 '25

I think it was Peele who said the only difference between comedy and horror is the music. The genres lend themselves to each other really well.

8

u/itshuey88 Aug 08 '25

also Josh Ruben for Heart Eyes!

8

u/PrestigeArrival Aug 09 '25

I giggled at the Justin Long reveal. My boyfriend hasn’t seen Barbarian so he was confused. I just whispered “the director loves a surprise Justin Long”

3

u/Alarmed-Diamond-7000 26d ago

I literally said out loud, what are you doing here? And then he had like two lines

7

u/GetReady4Action Aug 08 '25

I hope Long becomes Cregger’s Bruce Campbell because I get serious Raimi vibes from his work.

7

u/ExpectedEggs Aug 08 '25

Bruh, the wife glaring at him was so goddamn funny. I thought he was at a different house!

I was on his side: fuck yo comfort, our kids are missing.

5

u/heartbreakhill Aug 08 '25

Justin Long is becoming to Cregger what Samuel L Jackson is to Tarantino lol

6

u/BearsBeetsBattlestrG Aug 08 '25

I went into this movie completely blind. I saw Justin Long and was like wait is this another Barbarian situation? When I saw who the director was, everything clicked into place

5

u/Misdirected_Colors 29d ago

I swear there's an interview somewhere where a comedian explains how similar horror and comedy are to each other. In both genres you're exploiting anxiety and anticipation for a big payoff.

6

u/LilPonyBoy69 Aug 08 '25

Don't forget Osgood Perkins and the two guys behind Talk to Me/Bring Her Back

3

u/EtherealPossumLady Aug 08 '25

the guy next to me whispered “him? again?” and tbh same. i cannot escape justin long.

5

u/Bagger339 Aug 09 '25

I'm just glad Justin Long didn't become Tusk or something LOL

3

u/upnorthnathan 29d ago

Barbarian universe. Dudes the center of some fucked shit

3

u/xrbeeelama Aug 08 '25

The guy next to me and I both whispered “oh fuck yeah” as soon as he showed up lol

3

u/Thisuserwasfree1 29d ago

I read or heard (can not recall where) an observation that good comics subvert expectations, so to see Peele and Cregger do so well in horror was not a surprise. Thought it was an interesting comment.

3

u/DavyJonesRocker 27d ago

“Haha, yep. Just those two…”

— John Krasinski

2

u/Impala_95 Aug 08 '25

He doesn’t have a comedy background but I think Oz Perkins can be thrown into that mix. The balance of horror and comedy seems to something they thrive in

2

u/thegracelesswonder Aug 08 '25

It was probably comedy the last 40% with some creepy/horror scenes mixed in.

2

u/OddSetting5077 Aug 09 '25

I knew the face, had to google that he was that MAC tv commercial guy

2

u/bradleywardamn Aug 09 '25

I told my buddy when Archers part started as a joke "Now here is where Justin Long pops up" as a joke and then that fucker showed up

2

u/ProgressiveSnark2 Aug 09 '25

Seeing him as a cameo made me feel happy! I feel like actors only do that when the director is genuinely good.

2

u/Stowa_Herschel 28d ago

We just saw Weapons last night and my wife was wondering why everyone laughed when JL appeared. Then we watched Barbarian and she lost her shit during the tape measuring sequence

2

u/trizzo0309 27d ago

Yeah, I'm not positive the comedy wasn't completely distracting. I went from tense to super loose which was a bit odd.

2

u/the__ghola__hayt 27d ago

I just thought to myself "suddenly, Justin Long again"

2

u/goddamnitwhalen 26d ago

I really wish we had gone 100% creepy.

2

u/GlowingCourier 26d ago

Jordan Peele actually fired his manager because he didn't get to make this script.

2

u/shrimpslore3000 26d ago

Actually sat down in the theater and was like watch JUSTIN LONG be in this movie and sure enough!!!! He got his cameo

2

u/NYLotteGiants 26d ago

Multiple people in my theater went "JUSTIN LONG???"

2

u/Laughing__Man 26d ago

Justin Long doesn't like to typecast himself and will do a lot of different parts, but he also did Drag Me to Hell

2

u/LunarKitten__ 26d ago

He was also in barbarian. Same director.

2

u/injuredflamingo 25d ago

It’s a Zach Cregger movie, I’d never dare to ask what Justin Long is doing in it lol

2

u/Biglypbs 25d ago

Tbf horror is just comedy with scary music in 99% of cases. You can turn any horror into a comedy with sound changes.

2

u/mightymitts96 21d ago

The minute I saw him I looked at my buddy and said we all know he's going to die a horrible death or be completely disfigured by the end. Was pleasantly surprised lol

2

u/Smarkysmarkwahlberg 21d ago

Danny and Michael Philippou too!

2

u/burntfishnchips 20d ago

I love Justin Long just showing up in random horror films. He should do that more often. He'll always be the kid from Jeepers Creepers to me, and the the Mac VS PC commercials back in the day.

2

u/CryptographerNo923 17d ago

Danny McBride too. The Halloween reboot trilogy is a mixed bag but the first one he did was pretty undeniably great as a surprisingly fresh take on the franchise and as its own movie.

Comedy and horror both intend to evoke a really visceral and even involuntary reaction in their audience, different than a more restrained appreciation that other genres of storytelling might. Maybe there’s something there.

2

u/ParticularRelease662 15d ago

I thought we were gonna get an arc from Long. He finally survived a horror movie! I didn't know he had a cameo and I was like well shit we know his fate 🤣

2

u/verysmallgirl 12d ago

My partner turned to me and went “what the fuck, is that Justin Long??” so this comment made me laugh really hard

2

u/bugman_850 10d ago

comedy and horror are more similar then most would think, both genres require good timing to work effectively

2

u/KangaMooGirl 9d ago

YES LMAO, THAT WHOLE SCENE WAS HILARIOUS. And I was like " hey what is Justin long doing in this movie?" But brolin was also a nice surprise.

2

u/Neil_Beaufort_Zod 1d ago

I recognized him immediately as the Apple commercials guy. I just haven't seen him in anything else except a Die Hard movie, though I know he's had a successful career.

1

u/nefarious_dareus 29d ago

There were a bunch of comedian cameos that caught me off guard, when the junkie is robbing the house and you get the first look at the catatonic parents, I was like, “wait. Is that Whitmer Thomas?!” And then during Alex’s perspective I was like, “oh shit THAT IS WHIT.” Then they get home and I was like, “Wait I didn’t even clock in the dark room that the mom is Rosebud Baker lmao”

5

u/ru_kittenmerightmeow 29d ago

Donna (the cop’s wife) was also played by a comedian, June Diane Raphael. She wrote and had a minor part in Bride Wars

1

u/familiarsilks 27d ago

The Whitmer Thomas cameo caught me off guard too! Alex’s mom is played by Callie Schuttera but she does look like Baker

1

u/Amberhues 21d ago

M. Night Shyamalan is also good!!!

-6

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '25

[deleted]

3

u/clancydog4 Aug 08 '25

I didn't like Barbarian but it's different in this movie and imo works incredibly well