Ethan Hawke is the good kind of self aware actor we want in Hollywood. He’s aware of his strengths and weaknesses, and has wonderful, open hearted taste, meaning he’s gonna pick interesting tales and give his all to them to try to get them to become the best movie they can be. Even, say, for a first time movie director (Padraic McKinley) if the idea is worth his weight in either gold…or experience.
Hawke plays Samuel Murphy, a bootlegger who finally has found himself arrested, taken away from his daughter Penny (Avy Berry). He’s sent to work on an Oregonian work camp, ruled over by Warden Clancy (Russell Crowe). After Murphy helps the Warden with his labor projects, Clancy offers Samuel a proposition: help Clancy’s buddy Taggert (Alec Newman) with 3 other inmates (Avi Nash, Austin Amelio, and Lucas Lynggaard Tonnesen), carrying stolen gold across the mountains before FDR reclaims it to help pay for his New Deal. Oh, and Anna (Julia Jones), an indigenous woman who hears the theft and decides to get out of her own mining prison she’s found herself in.
This is 2026’s version of The Wages of Fear, one of the great action movie thrillers that never gets its just due. This movie lacks the incredible premise of that film (drive an explosives filled truck across a piss poor terrain), but walking gold through the Oregonian Wilderness still has lots of potential. McKinley takes the script he is given and builds in a day counter for us, keeping us moving towards the rally point. Padraic uses the slowness of the time to his advantage. Every move is deliberate and debated by our party as they get further into the wilderness, building up each of the characters and fleshing them out while making the audience feel The Weight of it all. There’s a nighttime encounter with the man (Cameron Brady) that’s oozing malevolence because of how still and dark everything is. Which is juxtaposed wonderfully when action ensues, more than once, introducing a speed and chaos the travelers, and by proxy us, are surprised by and unprepared for.
Ethan Hawke understands what The Weight is going for immediately. He’s the gravelly anchor of the film, quick to action but last to speak, a natural leader you see everyone turn to when things go haywire. Austin Amelio matches wonderfully against him as Murphy’s opposite, Rankin. There’s a twitchy Charlie Day wildcard energy each movie group needs to keep things exciting, and Amelio keeps us guessing his allegiances minute to minute. Russell Crowe has a blast encapsulating unchecked capitalism as the Warden, seeming nice but really just a giant dickwad who uses people. And Julia Jones is better than just a diversity hire she at first seems, secretly the leader of the platoon as she proves the most equipped for what is ahead, unafraid of anything in her way.
I wish movies like The Weight got wider releases. The story is so simple but powerful, and shockingly resonant still today. At least it’s letting Ethan Hawke enjoy this current phase of his acting career, where he can still physically deliver what stories like Padraic McKinley’s need. I personally can’t wait for wise old Ethan Hawke in a movie, but I can wait a few more years for one of those to earn him his long overdue Oscar.