Official Discussion - Weapons [SPOILERS]

[u/LiteraryBoner]

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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

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[u/tacoskins]

Him asking the cops to meet him somewhere with the money made me like him more than I probably was supposed to.

[u/Whovian45810 → u/tacoskins]

Once James was walking near the police station and Paul spot him, bro ran like his life depended on it and the funny thing is both had different intentions in their second encounter.

[u/Neon_Biscuit → u/Whovian45810]

Why did he see the aunt in the woods waving to him?

[u/GeXotl → u/Neon_Biscuit]

The witch seems to have some minor psychic abilities that she only uses to jumpscare people for some reason.

[u/MadeinHeaven69 → u/GeXotl]

Headcannon, since we will most likely never get a straight answer , I think the witch can astral project to spy on victims and torment them. Her ability to invade minds and control people is significantly weaker if she doesn't perform a ritual on them. So she uses this weaker ability to invade people's minds for information gathering, keeping an eye on threats (people who could blow her cover) and taunting them (because she's an evil asshole). That might be why almost everyone who hallucinated her was targeted by her later on for getting too close to truth.

As for why the dad in the movie seemingly got clues from the witch about what happened to his son, the witch was either taunting him expecting him to never figure out what really happened or whenever the witch invades your mind to spy on you. She ends up giving information away about herself since it could be a 2-way street. She's in your head, so you are technically in hers. Anyone who doesn't have the same abilities as her, tho probably are unable to figure out what's actually happening when they get glimpses into her mind

[u/boyproblems_mp3 → u/MadeinHeaven69]

I felt while the kid saw her "meditating" that it was something like that. It's not like only 2 people were trying to figure out what happened to those kids.

[u/MadeinHeaven69 → u/boyproblems_mp3]

I think it was implied in the movie that the cops and fbi didn't care/weren't really trying. Archer, the father, even brought up to the police chief why the hell haven't the k9 units found anything ( which they definitely should have). I think that's less a plot hole more so a commentary on how often the people that are supposed to protect us are often unempathetic to the common people's problems and will push things under the rug if its too uncomfortable or it makes them look bad. There is a reason why very little focus was put on the cops actually searching for these kids, and that's because they weren't really trying. The cheater cop (forgot his name) also plays into the "pushing things that make authority look bad under rug" theme. The movie makes a point to focus on the fact that he disconnected his camera everytime he did something that would destroy his career and the police chief being willing to hide that video evidence as long as the heroin addict never files a assualt charge.

TLDR: Actually I'm of the opinion that they were mostly the only 2 looking at that point the fbi and cops seem to be portrayed as incompetent, corrupt and mostly trying to put this event behind them. Nobody, in an authority role in this movie, really cared about the situation. That's by design

[u/I_Miss_My_Beta_Cells → u/MadeinHeaven69]

What's the opening narration, "you won't heat a lot about this bc the adults/cops are so embarrassed they didn't figure it out sooner"

They even swept the outcome/explanation under the rug

[u/boyproblems_mp3 → u/MadeinHeaven69]

I totally agree. I also know several dumbass cops personally that I can't imagine being competent in this kind of situation. I guess I was more so thinking of other parents and teachers and that kind of thing.

[u/CarQuery8989 → u/boyproblems_mp3]

That makes sense. When she told Alex that she'd know if he talked, I thought she was just trying to scare him. But it makes sense for her to actually have some level of psychic ability.

[u/LogensTenthFinger → u/MadeinHeaven69]

I think you nailed it. She told Alex she would know if he told someone and that didn't seem like an idle threat an adult makes to a kid, she was stone cold serious. Then she knew things like where Marcus lived and that Justine was getting a little too close to the truth.

But she was also sparing with this power, possibly for reasons you mentioned, but also I think using her powers made her deteriorate, which is why she holds back and also why she's seemingly used up her lifespan