A & E

Weapons: Even Better Than You Expect

Ella Gibney and Summer Gardner • September 15, 2025

Look for this captivating cover at Cinemark Boulder while juggling popcorn and candy for your next best watch.

The dim movie screen is suddenly lit up, revealing a deranged scene in front of you. The packed theater erupts into screeches and gasps as you desperately shovel popcorn into your mouth, attempting to distract yourself from the disturbing image. As quickly as it appeared, the horrific creature vanishes, leaving the theater on the edge of their seat and eager for what’s to come.

If this experience sounds like your cup of tea, Weapons is for you. This riveting horror movie follows the haunting mystery that seizes a town when every student from an elementary school classroom goes missing on the same night… that is, every student but one.

But other than the plot, whatever you’ve heard about the standout new movie on social media… it’s not that.

If you go in expecting an entirely fresh spin on the genre, or one of those generation-defining movies, as many critics have – in their excitement – hyped the film to be, you will likely find yourself disappointed. The plotline has its fair share of holes and cliches, and is not exactly thought-provoking in the way The Shining or a Jordan Peele movie is renowned to be. However, it does boast a combination of three things rarely achieved in a single horror movie: intriguing storytelling, a creative concept, and incredible acting.

The unique narration style was what really made the movie, in my opinion. Instead of following a single main character or narrator, multiple perspectives are sewn together in a suspenseful, skillful way that keeps readers entranced. I haven’t seen this kind of storytelling done so well in a horror movie, and I found it extremely enjoyable as it builds considerable suspense and provides the opportunity for constant cliffhangers as a crew of oddball characters solve the mystery.

This movie is downright entertaining and successfully pulls off the beloved traits of the genre, full of freakish jump scares and heart-pounding suspense, sure to keep viewers engaged. On top of this, the acting is fantastic, making the emotional scenes hit hard and the comedic scenes less eye-rollingly cheesy.

On the other hand, there were a few areas where the movie was lacking. The production progress appeared to be slightly rushed and left a lot of loose ends untied as it sped toward an ending that was designed to be satisfactory but came off as disappointingly clichéd after the complexity of the rest of the movie. We left the theater feeling as if there was no theme or moral of the story – we simply threw out our popcorn, refilled our slushies, and walked out the doors in a state of bafflement.

Nonetheless, I would still recommend this movie, for the pros surely outweigh the cons. Although it may not be thought-provoking, if you want an entertaining, suspenseful, and somewhat mindless movie that will leave your skin crawling, this is for you.

About the Contributors

Ella Gibney, Editor-in-chief

Ella Gibney is entering her third year with The Owl fueled by overpriced coffee, the crystals in her pockets, and Love Island USA. Current BHS senior and co-editor-in-chief, Ella is excited to continue covering the events affecting the student body by openly writing about mental health, getting the behind-the-scenes of the school’s inner workings, and voicing her opinions on everything from pop culture to diet culture. Ella is passionate about volunteering and gives weekly presentations about depression and suicide to middle and high school classrooms. Outside of the school setting, she can usually be found thrifting jewelry, falsely believing she can read palms, or working at her part-time job to finance her full-time concert-goer identity. The only thing Ella fears more than math homework and highways is purple grapes, due to their horrifying likeness to the taste of cough syrup.

Summer Gardner, Writer

Summer Gardner is a second-year staff writer for The Owl and a senior at Boulder High. She enjoys writing about social issues and sharing her opinions on whatever else is on her mind at the moment. When Summer is not in school, she enjoys reading, spending time outside, and pestering her sister whenever possible. Over the summer, she works as a farmer at Growing Gardens, where she mainly harvests produce and sneaks the occasional snap pea when no one is looking. One of her favorite activities is enjoying a good picnic with her friends, where she hopefully eats as many grapes as possible. These would, of course, be of the purple sort. Although purple grapes are a slightly bigger risk than green grapes (the rate of mushiness is higher), the reward is much greater, and the act of eating a solid purple grape is said to be one of the most enlightening human experiences known to man.