Full transcript of “Weapons - Movie Review”. Click a timestamp to open the video at that moment. Need another video? Use the YouTube transcript generator.
0:00 Look, I surprisingly enjoyed Barbarian, so I've been looking forward to this for some time. Speaking of time, going to give some love to the sponsor of this video. This video is brought to you by Holes Karn. Holeskarn makes watch, jewelry, and accessories for both men and women with a unique flare, which works for me. Mechanical watches are timeless. Classy 100 years ago, classy now, classy 100 years from now, classy until the inevitable heat death of the universe. And for my part, also functional. I'm in the movie theater watching a movie. I need to check the time. No big bright screen coming on from a phone or a smartwatch. Incognito. But again, like I said, they also have jewelry and accessories. Never underestimate the power of accessorizing. You know me, I always love a good skeleton watch. I like seeing the movement. Just it's just hypnotizing. I'm still rocking this watch from my last hol sponsorship. The dark metal on wood just works for me. But I do also really like the watch
0:46 called the Pacemaker. Color scheme matches my motorcycle again. Got the mechanical visuals to hypnotize me. It's just a cool design. These watches are unique, eye-catching. I dig it. Plus, products have a 2-year warranty, which I always appreciate. So, click the link below or scan the QR code. Use code John's on checkout. Get yourself 15% off sitewide for a limited time only. So act fast. And now [Music] Weapons is written and directed by Zack Kger. Is it Kger or Kger? It looks like Kger to me, but I've seen it pronounced both ways. You know, name pronunciations and Achilles heel of mine. So Zach really good at his job apparently has made another movie after Barbarian, which I really enjoyed. Weapon stars Julia Garner, Josh Brolan, in a formula that I didn't really expect, but I'm
1:32 getting there. This movie picks up a couple months after The Event. The event is broken down with voice over. Not going to lie, anytime there's voice over breaking down what happened, I'm usually like, "Okay, how much longer do I have to listen to this before we get to the movie?" In the case of Weapons, it actually made more sense to me. The voice over even says, and this is where the story actually starts. The event being a couple months ago, all these kids from this one classroom at about 2:17 a.m., I believe, all in sync did the Naruto run and just bailed, never to be seen again. So, we're following people who are trying to get to the bottom of what's happening cuz the cops really have no answers here. Now, Julia Garner as the teacher, largely the lead, or at least our introduction to this world. I thought she was great. She's a tragic character. She's drinking every
2:18 night. She's just trying to get through this situation. And I really like the fact that they shine a spotlight on I guess I'd call it survivors guilt. Like all these parents in this town are pissed. They want answers. They're not just looking to her for answers. They're pointing the finger at her. That's quite a weight on someone's shoulders. You feel bad for her. And Josh Brolan as the dad looking for answers. Funny enough, I guess Josh Brolan's role in this movie was going to be Pedro Pascal. That's right. Pedro Pascal was going to be in another movie this year. Universe apparently said, "No, that's one too many." Pedro's taking the day off today. But looking at the movie, looking at what Josh Brolan brought to it, I can't imagine anyone other than Josh Brolan in this role. And that's where the structure of this movie is so different
3:03 than what I thought it was going to be. This movie isn't just following the teacher played by Julia Garner, which I thought it was going to, not just her and Josh Brolan's character. It's her going through a day or two. Then Josh Brolan's character going through that same day showing his perspective. Then another character Alden Aaron Reichkes in this movie that actually really surprised me. That took me a second. There are a couple of actors in this movie. It took me a second. I was like, that's Alden Aaron Reich. That's Chenise from Uncle Buck. But it's the perspective and stories of a few different people taking place in the same time frame but showing their perspective of it. And it's really interesting seeing these perspectives. These people cross paths, you know, intersect at certain points. It is quite the tangled web, per the adage, the tangled web we weave. Though, it's not confusing. It sounds more confusing than
3:50 it actually was. I feel like in less qualified hands, the movie could have been. Might have walked out of this movie like what the what was that? But no, it all fits perfectly. Even the characters where I'm like, why are we concentrating on this person exactly? by the end it had that feeling of yeah, I like that. Now, I've seen this movie be categorized as horror enough. I respectfully disagree. I would say it's a thriller first and foremost, though it does have flavors of horror in it. And what I mean by that is this movie really does bring to the forefront what makes horror effective. Other than the slashers and the blood fest, you know, take that genre of horror out of it. If we're looking at those psychological horror films, it really is the fear of
4:35 the unknown. It really is the attention to detail. All of which this movie has. Those moments that are so purposefully crafted that make the audience go, "Something's up. Something's up with that specifically. I just don't know what it is. It freaks me out." Right down to the way a door opens. We're like, it's just unnatural. It's awesome. There were a couple of jump scares in the movie that made me feel like, but did we need it? I mean, they're brief. They're unsettling, sure. But it gave me that feeling that I feel like he was probably like, "Yeah, the movie's I need that to wake the audience up. Some people it's going to be slower than they might want." I never found the movie slow, to be honest with you. It is, what's the phrase? It's deliberately paced, which is critics speak for, most people might find it boring, but I liked
5:21 it. But it wasn't boring. I never checked my watch once. Ironic for the sponsored show. Call it what you will. slowburn, deliberately paced, but it was never slow, never boring. Also, the movie looks amazing. The way it's shot, the cinematography moments where it's like it's not supposed to feel this interesting. Or maybe it is. It wouldn't usually feel that interesting, I guess, is how I should say, but you can pull the audience in to a pretty basic scenario and just how you shoot it. But there was a point in this movie I was like, "This is one of the best missing person's movies I've seen in a long time." I mean, since prisoners, that's a while ago, actually. Now, how long ago is that? 2013. Sure. With one caveat, which is a pretty
6:08 strong one, at least in my book. I've just heard, "Oh, the ending. Wait for the ending." I felt the ending was kind of unsatisfying for me. I mean, it's equal parts awesome and unfulfilling, if that makes sense. Trying to keep my thoughts on the ending vague in the spirit of spoiler-free review here, which I'm sure can get kind of frustrating for you. Apologize for that. However, I did have that feeling of but the journey getting to the end was pretty awesome. Also, I run into the night trap scenario. I got to unpack that one. Yes, the cheesy video game Night Trap. Here's what I mean. In the game Night Trap, you ever been in a room where just chaos is going down? Then you go to the other room and you don't hear anything? That happens in this movie out of Point. Not only did it take me out of it, I definitely thought Night Trap, which is of course the one flaw of Night
6:54 Trap. Everything else about Night Trap Gold, but that is the flaw. But I'll be honest about the end of this movie. The more I unpack it, the less it bothers me. The more I just kind of roll with it. So, in the end, weapons, pretty damn good stuff. Zack Kger's taught us that, yeah, he has a knack for this kind of thing. The movie looks great. It's ambient. It's eerie. It's unsettling at times in ways that just feels real. The acting all around is great. Julia Garner, Josh Brolan leading the charge here. And the execution of concentrating on different people for the different chapters of the film that all takes place in the same time frame just added another level of uniqueness. I think Weapons is definitely worth watching and worth buying on Blu-ray. It's the one to watch right now in theaters, though I do wonder about the replayability, the rewatch factor here. We'll see as time goes on. All right, so Weapons, have you
7:40 seen it? What did you think about it? Or what's your favorite Missing Persons or investigative mystery film? Whatever it is, whatever you think, comment below, let me know. And as always, if you like what you're seeing here and you want to see more, click right here to see more.
