Movie Review - The Weight
Ethan Hawke is one of our finest working actors, and he proves it again in The Weight.
The film is set in Depression-era Oregon, and Hawke plays Samuel Murphy, a father sent to a labor camp after a violent misunderstanding. There he catches the eye of the warden, played with easy menace by Russell Crowe, who offers him a way out: haul a load of gold bars through the wilderness before it can be stolen—or confiscated—and earn an early release. What follows is a hard, muddy trek full of action and a slow-building tension that never quite lets go.
The film takes its time, but it’s never dull, and watching Hawke hold the screen is a real pleasure. The cinematography is a real treat, and the period detail does a lot of the work of putting you right there in 1933.
I enjoyed this old-fashioned action-drama. It has the grit of the era and a star performance that makes it well worth seeing.
Grade: B+
| Rated: | (R) NA |
| Genres: | Crime, Drama, Thriller |
| USA release date: | 2026-09-18 |
| Movie length: | 113 minutes |
| Starring: | Ethan Hawke, Russell Crowe, Julia Jones, Austin Amelio |
| Director: | Padraic McKinley |
| Writer(s): | Shelby Gaines, Matthew Booi |
| Language: | en |
| Country: | US |
Plot
When Samuel is torn from his daughter and sent to a brutal prison, Warden Clancy offers him a high-stakes proposition: smuggle gold out of a remote mine with a dangerous crew of prisoners and he’ll win his freedom.
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