The Weight (2026) (original) (raw)
Synopsis
In 1933 Oregon, Samuel Murphy is torn from his daughter and sent to a brutal work camp. Warden Clancy tempts him with early release if he smuggles gold through deadly wilderness, but betrayal festers within the crew, and Murphy questions how far he’ll go to see his child again.
Cast
Popular reviews
I knew nothing about this going in (the only way to do it) but if you had told me it was Sorcerer meets Cool Hand Luke but with an Ethan Hawke father-daughter twist I wouldn’t have been able to believe you.
The audience was viscerally feeling every bone-crunching beat. A true throwback tale with a director-editor and a composer-writer, people putting their heart and soul into flawed characters you nonetheless wanna grow up to be.
Loved it. Rockstar shit.
Sundance Movie #15:
A captivating mashup of Sorcerer, The Revenant, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The Shawshank Redemption. Ethan Hawke leads a group of prisoners transporting gold bars through the Depression-era wilderness in exchange for their freedom.
Matteo Cocco’s cinematography is a standout, as are the performances from the ensemble cast. The Weight is an indie movie that feels like a classic Hollywood film. It’s packed with great set pieces and suspenseful sequences to pair with the acting. The characters are well drawn and there are moments of levity to break the suspense. Ethan Hawke has never been more steely and in control while also giving his character a beating heart, and his scenes with Russell Crowe as…
an Indian socialist, a Native American woman and Ethan Hawke walk into a bar... and bloated capitalist Russell Crowe gives out the hard liquor.
"finally a men's movie over here" someone tells his seat neighbor. the man isn't wrong. McKinley & Hawke wanted to make a "_Sorcerer_-type movie", and - while The Weight is not exactly Friedkin's roaring tiger - it is refreshing to see guys tackling old school tropes in these days & times.
the action adventure with an educational social message works on most levels, from internal dynamics & pacing to narrative strategies & the establishment of side characters with enough edge to them to work well in an ensemble that looks bloated on the first sight.
funnily enough the film suffers…
THE WEIGHT features Ethan Hawke in full badass girl-dad mode as a desperate convict undertaking a dangerous mission to transport gold across the wilderness during the Great Depression to buy back his freedom and return to his daughter. While the script is fairly generic and the pacing may be a bit too meticulous for some, the film is hard-edged and brutal in its execution, delivering tense set pieces that recall the suspense of films like “Sorcerer” and “The Wages of Fear.” And who doesn’t love a good 1930s car chase? Hawke once again proves he’s one of the best working today, while Julia Jones finds commanding moments to stand out among the ensemble, though I wish Russell Crowe had more screen time. A well-crafted, crowd pleasing, rugged thriller.
Ethan Hawke accidentally gets too important at work
Stomach-in-the-throat riveting, a nerve-shredding tale of adventure and suspense. The directorial debut of Padraic McKinley (an editor with an eclectic filmography that ranges from Charlie St. Cloud and 17 Again to Igby Goes Down and the Alfie remake), The Weight clearly harkens back to William Friedkin’s Sorcerer but never feels like it’s playing it safe as a cheap imitation. This is a hearty, brutal excursion into the dangerous depths of the forest with plenty on its mind beyond the visceral thrills of the predicament these men are placed in.
Set in the midst of the Great Depression, Ethan Hawke’s single father is forced into prison labor after a disagreement that’s stemmed from our nation’s routine persecution of the poor, and…
Set in 1933 Oregon during the Great Depression, the story follows Samuel Murphy ( Ethan Hawke), a battle-scarred war veteran whose life is shattered after the tragic death of his wife. Murphy is arrested and sent to a brutal work camp, while his young daughter, Penny, is placed in an orphanage.
Desperate to regain custody of his daughter, Murphy is targeted by the camp’s unscrupulous warden, Clancy (Rusaell Crowe). Clancy offers him a chance at freedom if he helps smuggle a fortune in gold through the treacherous wilderness.
The Weight is meticulously crafted, and has an amazing eye for detail of the era. It started off a little slow for me. The early scenes with Murphy and his daughter felt…
From Sundance 2026
Padraic McKinley’s first feature, a Depression-era heist western led by Ethan Hawke, is an absolute delight. At turns nerve-wracking and gradually riveting, The Weight is incredibly self-assured in its straightforward plot, following a group of prisoners tasked with stealing gold in exchange for their freedom. It boasts an entertaining ensemble – among them, a scenery-chewing Russell Crowe – each of whom play fully fleshed-out people as much as they portray unexpected symbols of American history, resulting in the kind of slick, sophisticated dramatic thriller that comes about once every so often...
Read more at IGN: www.ign.com/articles/the-weight-review-ethan-hawke
so incredibly captivating but ethan hawke sat behind me so that’s all i could focus on
girl dad dilfethan hawke w massive arms punching evil guys and then getting that count of monte cristo ass ending… ik that’s right
Wow! This was spectacular! On the technical side The Weight is on another level. The cinematography is excellent throughout in such a wide array of locations and lighting setups. Sound design is unbelievable; you truly feel every impact, thud, break, etc. The score is also amazing and is featured very prominently in much of the runtime. Performances are stellar across the board, with Ethan Hawke continuing to deliver as one of my favorite actors. This feels like a classic adventure-thriller through and through and was a fantastic premiere experience.
There’s some odd framing/coverage choices in this (why is it we can barely see Russell Crowe during one of his monologues??) but Ethan Hawke and Crowe — when he can be seen — are great in this period-set action survivalist thriller whose meat and potatoes narrative sensibilities, which features normal people with approachable problems, make for warm cinematic comfort food.