“Weapons” is an eerie, unsettling thriller. Told from multiple perspectives, the film’s initially unexplained events slowly come together as the story gets darker and darker. Even plot holes and an unsatisfying ending cannot wholly detract from what is a compelling tale.

The movie begins with a voice-over by a child narrator. One day seventeen students in one classroom do not show up for school. Only the teacher and another student are present.

Further investigation from home cameras reveals that each and every child left their individual residences at exactly 2:17 a.m. As they left, both of each child’s arms were extended to their sides as if to mimic a flying bird or airplane.

Of course the teacher, Justine Gandy (Julia Garner) is the primary suspect in everyone’s mind. At a contentious public meeting, she tries to speak but is shouted down by angry parents who want to know what she said or taught to these children to make them disappear. When the school re-opens, Justine is advised to not return for a while.

The plot progresses from the perspective of 6 protagonists: Justine, angry parent Archer Graff (Josh Brolin), police officer Paul Morgan (Alden Ehrenreich), homeless junkie James (Austin Abrams), principal Andrew Marcus (Benedict Wong), and the one remaining student in Justine’s class Alex Lily (Cary Christopher). Some of the story lines intersect at points or are seen from another angle. But each progression takes the picture further down the rabbit hole of the occult.

Justine is frightened one night at home by an unknown person ringing her doorbell and then pounding furiously at her door. The next morning the word “Witch” has been painted on the driver’s side of her car. She can’t scrub it off.

When a police officer examines her car for evidence, she sees old flame Paul coming out of the police headquarters. They once were an item. She invites Paul to meet her at a bar. Paul is an alcoholic and is in trouble with his Department for a previous DUI. His relationship with the Chief’s daughter helps him as does his involvement with AA.

Nevertheless, he gets drunk and eventually cheats with Justine. Paul’s girlfriend comes home early from a convention, finds out about his indiscretion, and attacks Justine in a liquor store.

Meanwhile Justine wants to talk to Alex about what happened with the other kids. She has a history of overstepping her professional bounds, such as taking an abandoned student home in her car, and of sedating herself with alcohol. She is advised by Andrew not to seek out Alex.

Soon Justine will hook up with Archer as he follows up on leads as to where the kids have gone. Paul’s involvement with James leads them both to Alex’s house, from which Paul does not come out. Principal Andrew in a bloodied state attacks Justine and Archer at a gas station. Mysterious and truly creepy Aunt Gladys (Amy Madigan) visits the Lilly household, where Alex’s parents suddenly take ill. The death toll mounts and the weirdness increases.

“Weapons” benefits by starting the story with its initial arc about the missing children. The mystery gets set and every scene after that holds your attention as you wait for its resolution. Director Zach Cregger is a master at gripping the audience’s focus from the get-go.

The shifting between different perspectives has its drawbacks and its virtues. On the one hand, the transitions can be abrupt as the previous plot line gets interesting and then is cut off. By the time you get to Andrew’s tale, the trope becomes tiresome and gimmicky as you wonder how many more of these jumps will occur.

On the plus side, each new person has something unique to contribute to the plot. It is not so much that you see the same scene from another viewpoint as it is seeing how each person copes with the disappearance of the students. It also added to the tension as each vignette brought more answers as to what is going on.

The pacing varies. Sometimes you wonder where a scene is going and why it is included. There seem to be several detours and red herrings. Yet surprisingly I was strangely compelled to accept these as I had to find out what the hell was going on with these missing kids.

There are some serious plot holes. Spoilers don’t allow me to address a major one involving Alex’s role in his household. The ineptitude of the local police starts to defy credulity. If 17 students disappeared, why isn’t there continuous media coverage or the involvement of other law-enforcement agencies? Yet somehow none of these detract or are a significant distraction from the enjoyment of the movie.

I did like that there was no attempt to logically explain any of the occult activity in the picture. It simply is, and there is no lore that is shared. This clearly is an artistic choice. Normally this might have bothered me, but the nature of the main practitioner left no doubt that this individual could perform such acts.

The acting is uniformly good. Garner and Brolin carry the brunt of the action, although Amy Madigan steals the show with her outré portrayal of Aunt Gladys. Her makeup alone should be nominated for an Oscar in that category.

I particularly liked Austin Abrams’ portrayal of James. He captured the nuances of a person who lives on the edge of civilized society. He is both brazen in his thefts and drug use while simultaneously having an odd sort of naiveté.

Cary Christopher does well as a child actor. Sometimes his performance seemed a little wooden for my liking. But as the plot revelations continue, and his story perspective comes to light, the sheer terror of his situation might have induced such near-catatonia. Of course it is only natural to wonder about the effect acting in such a film, albeit make-believe, will have on such a young person. But he seemed well-adjusted in the interviews which I saw.

There are some gruesome scenes and visuals. So this is not for any children or tweens. I look forward to seeing this film again to appreciate the nuances and lost clues which I missed the first time. This is a one-of-a-kind experience that is best enjoyed in the theater.

Four out of five stars

When all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance.

Starring Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Cary Christopher, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Benedict Wong, Amy Madigan
Directed by Zach Cregger
Written by Zach Cregger