Take 31: Weapons
Seventeen kids have mysteriously gone missing in the middle of the night. The one thing that they have in common is that they all attended Justine Gandy’s (Julia Garner) third grade class. Gripped by paranoia and no other leads, the parents of the town quickly turn on and blame Gandy for the disappearances (or abductions) of her entire class with the exception of one lone student, Alex (Cary Christopher) who has grown more and more distant since his classmates went missing. As the film progresses we finally figure out exactly what did happen, and boy, it’s a doozy!
This one was definitely not what I was expecting—- in a good way. The storytelling is nonlinear and I always appreciate that. Here, we get the same block of time told from the perspectives of several characters and it really works! They each have their own flavor and strike different cords, from the teacher Justine, to Archer Graff (Josh Brolin), father of one of the missing children , to the Principal Miller (Benedict Wong), Paul (Alden Ehrenreich), Justine’s ex(?) cop boyfriend, to James (Austin Abrams), the unhoused junkie, to Alex, the kid left behind- each adds something to the tapestry. Telling this story this way seemed kind of strange at the beginning, but by the end, it really works and plays off. You feel for them all and unfortunately, not all of their stories ends well, and having spent time with each of them adds to the pathos.
Is it a horror film? Sure, there are parts that are creepy. There were a couple of cringy moments where I hate to look away. There is plenty of suspense and unease, the knowing that something bad is gong to happen. There are also some parts that are downright goofy and camp where I cracked up laughing. I am all for it. It makes things more palatable because I for one don’t want to be on edge and feeling uncomfortable and anxiety ridden for two hours at a time.
Gonna cut this one short because I really don’t want to give away too much. I will say I dug it!
My score: 9. Overall, great story, well-acted, enough twist to keep in interesting but a few things I will had bee clearer.
Ready to take up arms over what I had to say? Weaponize your words and leave me a comment. Until next time..
