WEAPONS

Not Bette Davis as Baby Jane; Amy Madigan as Aunt Gladys

WEAPONS (2025). Written and directed by Zach Cregger.

Seventeen children who were all in the class of a young female teacher named Justine (Julia Garner of Wolf Man) simply take off in the middle of the night and disappear. Justine becomes the chief suspect. Now you would imagine that FBI agents would be all over this town, but the only people working the case are some small-town cops, including Paul (Alden Ehrenreich) and one of the missing kids' fathers, Archer (Josh Brolin). Most of the people in town think that Justine has something to do with the children's disappearances, and frankly she seems more concerned over that than that her whole classroom has vanished. The only exception is young Alex (Cary Christopher), whose ill Aunt Gladys (Amy Madigan) is staying with him and his parents. Justine wants to talk to Alex herself, but the principal, Marcus (Benedict Wong), is against the idea. Meanwhile Paul pursues a drug-addicted drifter, James (Austin Abrams), who breaks into Alex' house and has reason to regret it ... 

Oscar-winning Amy Madigan

Weapons gets points for being something a little different, not just another slasher film, and (arguably) nothing with clowns. The picture is episodic, told from multiple points of view, and there is a degree of suspense until the villain behind the disappearances is revealed and everything turns into a dark, almost campy comedy. One could argue that the heavy moments of illogic -- nobody wonders about Alex' parents, for instance -- can be attributed not just to dramatic license but to the notion that Weapons is meant to be a kind of sinister fairy tale that no one could possibly take seriously. But that's just the problem. There are several very arresting sequences and some fine performances -- but no, I don't think Madigan's performance was quite worthy of an Oscar! -- but ultimately the whole thing just seems a little ridiculous, a burlesque. Also, for me, watching children being abused, psychologically or physically, is never entertaining. 

Verdict: Too long, too weird, too campy, too incredible, too much. **1/2.