‘The Weight’ Is an Old-School Nail-Biter

The Weight, the directorial debut from journeyman editor Padraic McKinley, feels plucked straight from 1967. Film fans so often lament bygone eras and genres, but this old-school, 1930s-set gold-smuggling thriller feels like a forgotten Don Siegel or Stuart Rosenberg gem — something you’d catch on a Saturday afternoon on TCM with an intro from Robert Osborne.

Ethan Hawke, following his Oscar-nominated performance in last year’s Blue Moon, stars as Samuel Murphy, a recently incarcerated widowed father. Murphy’s sole focus is finishing his sentence as quickly as possible so he can return to his daughter before she’s taken into state custody. He lands in a labor camp run by the baseball-obsessed Warden Clancy (a scenery-chewing Russell Crowe), who promises a day off each prisoner’s sentence for every two days of work. Seeing how pragmatic Murphy is, Clancy offers him a deal too good to refuse: If Murphy and three men of his choosing can successfully transport a load of gold through the Oregon wilderness, Clancy will grant the four men their freedom. 

Hawke’s stoic determination is a full 180 from the self-loathing charisma factory that was his turn as Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart in Blue Moon; it’s a testament to the range of one of our great leading men. Murphy’s trio of fellow prisoners — Rankin (Austin Amelio), Singh (Avi Nash) and Olson (Lucas Lynggaard Tønnesen) — are well-drawn and endearing, making the treacherous trip even more of a nail-biter. But the standout of the traveling party, which also includes a pair of gold-protecting goons, is Julia Jones as Anna, an Indigenous woman who joins the journey. Jones, likely best known for her appearances in the Twilight films, matches Hawke’s quiet craftiness.

The expedition itself features obstacles from both nature and man. The set pieces will leave you white-knuckled, gripping your armrest. And the script, from Matthew Booi and composer Shelby Gaines, is lean and efficient. 

McKinley and company have crafted an old-fashioned adventure thriller in the vein of Sorcerer, but with characters lifted from a prison drama like Cool Hand Luke. The Weight is nothing you haven’t seen before, but it’s probably been a while since you’ve seen it executed with this level of precision.