Weapons – Review

A child narrator explains this true story won’t be found in any headlines. The police were too baffled and embarrassed by its unsolved nature to let the news get out nationwide. What can only be described as an unexplainable event has occurred, and this small town is reeling with the results.

As a new teacher Justine Gandy (Garner) walks into her class for the day, she is surprised by an empty classroom. All desks are vacant, except for a lone student, Alex Lilly (Christopher). Why is her classroom full of tardy kids? Well… Here we go. At 2:17 AM the night before, all the children from this particular class all got up out of their beds, and ran out into the streets before disappearing into the darkness.

Some house alarms registered the timing, and some cameras caught the children exiting their homes. But nothing past that is known. The parents are all extremely broken by this event, while the police investigate parents, the school, Mrs. Gandy, and poor and confused Alex.

Where the hell does one go after such a strange and insane event which leaves an entire community reeling? Nothing makes any sense, and no one can really grieve either with so many questions. 17 kids from just ONE classroom just raises more issues than can be answered. Mrs. Gandy does her best to quell the parents, but they can’t help but focus on her involvement somehow, since it was her class.

This is only scratching the surface of Weapons, which covers all of this within a few minutes of the opening. Where does this go? What the hell is going on? How does anyone reconcile with such odd events? How does one logically attack a problem like this?

The great cast presents the material seriously the thoughtfully, as the emotions run strong in this tense mystery. Garner’s Mrs. Gandy is very well realized, but so are all of the main characters, which was extremely important to keep the film feeling dark, serious, gripping and authentic. It is well-paced and never seems to slow down. For me, this one really worked. The atmosphere is very moody while exuding creepy scenes and baffling imagery. If you can handle tension and love a dark mystery, take the trip for it is a bonkers ride. Watch out for that potato peeler.