September 17, 2026
FILM: THE WEIGHT
DIRECTED BY: PADRAIC MCKINLEY
WRITTEN BY: MATTHEW BOOI, SHELBY GAINES, LEO SCHERMAN
STARRING: ETHAN HAWKE, RUSSELL CROWE, JULIA JONES
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
When the film The Weight begins we see Ethan Hawke, as Samuel Murphy, speeding his car through the dirt roads of Oregon. It’s 1933 and, as the title cards offer, four years into the Depression. We can only imagine that these must be rough times for Murphy and his little daughter Penny, who is also in the vehicle. What we don’t know is why he appears to be on the run. Director Padraic McKinley, who produced Hawke’s 2020 mini-series The Good Lord Bird, makes us feel we are part of the setting and right in the middle of Murphy’s fast-moving predicament.
He appears to be a good father to his precocious girl. He’s smart and very resourceful. He also is about to be evicted from his apartment and arrested by law enforcement for crimes that are not specifically revealed. The crux of this story though starts when Murphy is being sent to a labor camp, run by Russell Crowe as Clancy. Thanks to Murphy’s intelligence and leadership Clancy gives him a special assignment to transport gold across Oregon’s wilderness. The stakes are high: he, and the men he travels with, could be caught and/or shot which might keep Murphy away from Penny indefinitely.
The Weight is the kind of narrative that feels like an old-fashioned Hollywood script that provides just enough exposition, plenty of conflicts, a thrilling climax, and a satisfying conclusion. It’s the type of film that, unfortunately, is not being made any more except by independent production companies. Yet it has all the elements that at least a more traditional audience would probably love.
Where there is gold and money, of course, there is greed and evil men. The characters traveling with Murphy have various goals, mostly to be let out early from their sentences. Nothing is easy on this journey though which is filled with obstacles such as a treacherous bridge, rough log-filled waters, internal fighting, and approaching enemies. It makes for a particularly perilous and exciting ride.
The acting is also very good. Compared to his recently heralded performances in Blue Moon and the TV series The Lowdown (both excellent, by the way) Hawke is much more appropriately subdued and internal here. He’s reserved but also calculating. What he endures becomes physically and emotionally exhausting. Hawke masters it all. There’s no question that he has become one of our finest character actors and this is another example of that.
While Russell Crowe has a smaller role in the film, he’s also quite effective and less tick-filled than he was in last year’s Nuremberg (also very good but not seen by enough people.) Here, he is much softer, almost kindly, as Clancy who develops respect and appreciation for Murphy. How much of it is an act is not entirely clear but Crowe is able to make us believe Clancy’s motives.
While the film takes place in Oregon it was actually shot in Germany which may surprise some, given how well the setting is used to capture the Pacific northwest. Characters are surrounded by lush forested trees, active waterways, and narrow paths.
There really isn’t much to not recommend this film to others. As I said, it may be a bit old-fashioned in its storytelling but it works. Bucking an over-reliance on old Hollywood tropes, there is even a nice portrayal of a Native American woman, played by Julia Jones, that doesn’t fall to stereotypes. She’s a fighter herself and knows where her skills are. She becomes almost an equal among the men who are generally less full of the machismo typical of a period western genre film.
The Weight opens this week in theaters everywhere. It’s worth checking out.
FILM: THE WEIGHT
DIRECTED BY: PADRAIC MCKINLEY
WRITTEN BY: MATTHEW BOOI, SHELBY GAINES, LEO SCHERMAN
STARRING: ETHAN HAWKE, RUSSELL CROWE, JULIA JONES
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
When the film The Weight begins we see Ethan Hawke, as Samuel Murphy, speeding his car through the dirt roads of Oregon. It’s 1933 and, as the title cards offer, four years into the Depression. We can only imagine that these must be rough times for Murphy and his little daughter Penny, who is also in the vehicle. What we don’t know is why he appears to be on the run. Director Padraic McKinley, who produced Hawke’s 2020 mini-series The Good Lord Bird, makes us feel we are part of the setting and right in the middle of Murphy’s fast-moving predicament.
He appears to be a good father to his precocious girl. He’s smart and very resourceful. He also is about to be evicted from his apartment and arrested by law enforcement for crimes that are not specifically revealed. The crux of this story though starts when Murphy is being sent to a labor camp, run by Russell Crowe as Clancy. Thanks to Murphy’s intelligence and leadership Clancy gives him a special assignment to transport gold across Oregon’s wilderness. The stakes are high: he, and the men he travels with, could be caught and/or shot which might keep Murphy away from Penny indefinitely.
The Weight is the kind of narrative that feels like an old-fashioned Hollywood script that provides just enough exposition, plenty of conflicts, a thrilling climax, and a satisfying conclusion. It’s the type of film that, unfortunately, is not being made any more except by independent production companies. Yet it has all the elements that at least a more traditional audience would probably love.
Where there is gold and money, of course, there is greed and evil men. The characters traveling with Murphy have various goals, mostly to be let out early from their sentences. Nothing is easy on this journey though which is filled with obstacles such as a treacherous bridge, rough log-filled waters, internal fighting, and approaching enemies. It makes for a particularly perilous and exciting ride.
The acting is also very good. Compared to his recently heralded performances in Blue Moon and the TV series The Lowdown (both excellent, by the way) Hawke is much more appropriately subdued and internal here. He’s reserved but also calculating. What he endures becomes physically and emotionally exhausting. Hawke masters it all. There’s no question that he has become one of our finest character actors and this is another example of that.
While Russell Crowe has a smaller role in the film, he’s also quite effective and less tick-filled than he was in last year’s Nuremberg (also very good but not seen by enough people.) Here, he is much softer, almost kindly, as Clancy who develops respect and appreciation for Murphy. How much of it is an act is not entirely clear but Crowe is able to make us believe Clancy’s motives.
While the film takes place in Oregon it was actually shot in Germany which may surprise some, given how well the setting is used to capture the Pacific northwest. Characters are surrounded by lush forested trees, active waterways, and narrow paths.
There really isn’t much to not recommend this film to others. As I said, it may be a bit old-fashioned in its storytelling but it works. Bucking an over-reliance on old Hollywood tropes, there is even a nice portrayal of a Native American woman, played by Julia Jones, that doesn’t fall to stereotypes. She’s a fighter herself and knows where her skills are. She becomes almost an equal among the men who are generally less full of the machismo typical of a period western genre film.
The Weight opens this week in theaters everywhere. It’s worth checking out.