The Weight
Dustin Chase
While it gets off to a rough start, Padraic McKinley’s “The Weight” is in the vein of a Scott Cooper (“Hostiles”) or Justin Kurzel (“The Order”) film. Brooding, grey nature pallet, and lots of foreboding. When the story gets to the crux of the plot, carrying heavy gold through the Oregon wilderness, it evolves into quite an engaging thriller. Ethan Hawke is the gear that makes the entire film spin. His role as a passive 1930’s era MacGyver-type is something different for the Oscar nominee. Hawke is beyond versatile and can play any role given to him, but he’s in top form here. Russell Crowe bookends the film with some trash talk villainy, but it’s the supporting cast who add to the films appeal not the former Gladiator.
War Hero and now convict, Samuel Murphy (Hawke) was simply trying to find a better situation for he and his daughter when a reaction landed him behind bars. A well-connected foreman (Crowe) offers Murphy a way out of his sentence and back to his daughter if he can use his savvy skills to aid a group smuggling gold out of a mine. 50 miles into the wilderness and four days, with four men of Murphy’s choosing. No room for error. The bars of gold must be moved before FDR’s new law goes into effect.
Ethan Hawke is one of the most underappreciated actors of our time.
Questionable swinging bridges, wooded spies, and a growing fear from within, weighs heavier than the loot they carry. The convicts and two hired guns will come to rely on Murphy’s quick wit to survive the journey.
There are absurdly suspenseful moments in “The Weight.” In one, Murphy stands in the middle of a rickety swinging bridge as heavy bars of gold are thrown his way. “Miss one and you might as well go over with it,” the hired gun says. He must catch and toss to the other side, one at a time, hundreds of feet on loose planks. These intense moments permeate their daily journey. “The Weight” maintains a level of intensity throughout the running time, even when its simply characters walking and conversing, or in Murphy’s situation saying nothing at all. Austin Amelio’s Rankin is the Ben Foster type character of the bunch. The performance you love to hate, with a surprising pay off.
The unpolished and scrappy filmmaking qualities here only aid the films’ rustic appeal. Lush, green, ariel shots of Germany standing in for 1930’s Oregon constantly remind the audience that this entire movie takes place outdoors. Ethan Hawke is one of the most underappreciated actors of our time. “The Weight” is another example of how he elevates a film that could have easily slid into mediocrity. This small budget thriller relies on acting as much as it does stunts or genre elements and is better for it.
Final Thought
Ethan Hawke is terrific in this scrappy, depression era, wilderness thriller.