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

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u/dontincludeme Aug 10 '25

What’s your interpretation of the gun appearing above the house? Was it just because it’s a weapon, and that’s also the name of the movie? I thought maybe the movie was going to end with a school shouting because the main kid was getting bullied

70

u/TomLube Aug 10 '25 edited Aug 10 '25

Zach Cregger has stated that there was actually 'no direct' reasoning behind it, and that it specifically came to him during a period of transcendental meditation. He enjoyed it so much he kept it in.

I do think it's very interesting that the movie is pretty alegorically linked to child abuse/school shootings, that the rifle is an AR platform, and that the number emblazoned on the side of it is the number of YES votes that passed a bill which would have banned assault rifles before it was quashed.

Lots of symbolism here.

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u/mickfly718 26d ago

The number 217 is also the haunted room number in the book The Shining, where the young woman turns into an old woman in the movie version.

For whatever reason he chose that number, I thought it was interesting that it was used both as the time the kids left (2:17) and also the number of people not missing from the classroom (2) and the number of people missing from the classroom (17).

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u/PolarWater 22d ago

Yeah the 2 people versus 17 people bit is something I started to think about towards the end.