Review: THE WEIGHT With Ethan Hawke & Russell Crowe

Good films do not have to be over complicated, or over thought. A well crafted story, strong performances and good visuals are all you need to deliver something that can capture the attention of an audience and have some emotional resonance. I mean, that might be easier said that done, but when it does happen it offers up an enjoyable experience – and that’s what we get with Padraic McKinley’s The Weight. 

Set during the Great Depression, The Weight is a dramatic adventure film. It’s an old-fashioned and sturdily crafted pic, anchored by Ethan Hawke, who offers up a gruff and assured performance as Samuel Murphy, a prisoner who will do anything to cut his time in incarceration so that he can save his daughter being adopted by the state. Russell Crowe’s firm, but fair Warden Clancy, offers him an opportunity to do just that – all Samuel has to so is team-up with three other prisoners and carry bags of gold on a six day trek across the Oregon wilderness. What seems like a simple enough idea is fraught with dangers within their own crew and from outside forces. 

Written by Matthew Booi and Shelby Gaines, The Weight is a tightly scripted drama that has echoes of films like Sorcerer, Deliverance and Treasure Of The Sierra Madre. It’s quite lean and without complexity – but that doesn’t mean it’s simple. There’s plenty of weight (no pun intended) to the drama here and that helps drive the motley crew of characters. Russell Crowe’s role is a supporting one, but his movie star persona adds great layers to his Warden character. He’s a likeable enough man – a rarity for a role which is normally set to be this type of film’s antagonist. Ethan Hawke is hitting a really interesting time in his career and he’s now able to settle into middle-aged leading man territory but also deliver some impressive range. His work in The Weight is miles different from something like he’s doing in FX’s The Lowdown – it’s good going that he’s able to ping around in different roles and productions of varying size – few big name actors are doing this as well or as successfully as he is. 

It might be set in Oregon, but The Weight was filmed in Germany (near Viechtach). The lush wooded locations add an oppressive quality and cinematographer Matteo Cocco shoots them in such as away that they feel like the real prison which holds the film’s on-the-move inmates.  If there are visual effects here, then they’re not obvious. 

Simply put, Padraic McKinley’s The Weight is excellent. It’s a tense drama that’s old-fashioned but expertly built with captivating storytelling, good characters and strong performances. It also looks great – so see it on the big screen if you can!