In The Weight, Ethan Hawke gets desperate, arrested, and sent off to a prison camp, leaving his young daughter alone—and forced to take on a grueling trek through the woods to steal government gold and deliver it to a corrupt warden who looks a lot like an old Maximus Aurelius. He’s forced to take on the trek, not the daughter, who does absolutely nothing to try and break her dad out of jail. Does she even love him?
Hawke plays Samuel, who loves his daughter enough to agree to the dangerous scheme at hand. The scheme, which takes place in Great Depression-era Oregon, seems simple enough but spirals out of control as the band of criminals turn on each other as money beckons and nature gets in the way.
Director Padraic McKinley delivers several gripping scenes, from crossing a rope bridge that even Indiana Jones would turn away from, surviving a log-gnarled river, and a fatally brutal brawl.
The Weight works best as a survival thriller, whether Sam Man and team are trying to outmaneuver nature or each other. The film moves efficiently along, wasting little breath on filler.
Hawke is solid as the lead protagonist, though the emotional core of the story—him getting back to his daughter—is more shown than felt. As solid as The Weight is, McKinley doesn’t quite figure out how to get under his character’s skin in a way that fully resonates.
Russell Crowe is good too but underutilized.
The Weight may not soar to new heights, weighted down by its own attempt to be more than it is, but it’s a well-made thriller that deserves more attention than it presumably will receive. Recommended, though I’m still not convinced the daughter lives her father enough to care.
Review by Erik Samdahl. Erik is a marketing and technology executive by day, avid movie lover by night. He is a member of the Seattle Film Critics Society.