Ethan Hawke stars in the Depression-era set adventure thriller The Weight.
There is something wonderfully tactile about The Weight, the new adventure thriller starring Ethan Hawke. A film that feels like a true throwback to the hard-bitten films of Walter Hill, where men are forced into egregious circumstances with no choice but to comply.
Set in 1933 Oregon, Samuel Murphy (Hawke) is imprisoned for protecting his young daughter. Sent to a hard labor camp run by an opportunistic, baseball-loving warden (Russell Crowe in a salty cameo), Murphy is doing his time in the hopes of getting his daughter back. The warden makes a devil’s deal with the convict. Transport a cache of government gold, and he will get his freedom. With no choice, Murphy agrees, along with three others from the chain gang set about transporting the gold across 50 miles of dangerous backwoods with two guards ever watchful, their fingers on their triggers. Can Murphy survive the harsh conditions and harsher guards to get his freedom?
Filmed in real locations throughout the Pacific Northwest, The Weight is like all great outdoor adventures, imposing the unrelenting conditions of the environment on its protagonists. Director Padraic McKinley and screenwriters Matthew Booi and Shelby Gaines (with a story by Booi, Leo Scherman, Matthew Chapman) ensure that the film is a low-key affair with a lean and mean vicious bit. Matteo Cocco’s beautiful cinematography invokes that of the work in Hill’s Southern Comfort or William Friedkin’s Sorcerer. One can feel every mud-filled boot step as the group gets closer to their destination.
Ethan Hawke continues to do truly special genre work. As Murphy, the star never cedes the ground to a stunt double, leading his way through rivers, hillsides, and every possible terrain the film throws at him. The terseness and quiet that Hawke imbues the character with is one of the highlights of the film. Murphy isn’t tough because he says he is; he’s tough because he has to be. The rest of the cast is as good as Hawke, with Julia Jones being the standout as a stowaway of sorts. Austin Amelio almost steals the show as one of the fellow prisoners who keeps everyone on edge.
The Weight is one of the true surprises of 2026; an adventure film with real gravitas. One that you won’t soon forget. One that demands to be seen on the big screen.