Ethan Hawke brings heart and integrity to The Weight, a high-stakes heist thriller revolving around a down-on-his-luck single father desperate to return to his daughter before she’s put up for adoption. While Russell Crowe shares top billing with Hawke, the Australian actor appears in a small but important role.
Set in Oregon in 1933, Samuel Murphy (Hawke) is torn from his daughter and sent to a brutal work camp. Warden Clancy (Crowe) tempts him with early release if he smuggles gold through the deadly wilderness. But betrayal festers within the crew, forcing Murphy to question how far he’ll go to see his child again.
The start of the film establishes Samuel as a doting and loving father to Penny (Ivy Berry), his cherub-faced 6-year-old daughter. The struggling single parent lands in jail after a brawl and eventually finds himself in the hands of Warden Clancy, who offers Murphy a get-out-of-jail card that comes with a not-entirely-legitimate caper.
The Weight plays to familiar heist-thriller tropes but also has shades of The Revenant, with the characters facing obstacles in the wild from Mother Nature and the worst kind of threat—human nature. The action is solid, with peril at every turn for the characters, especially Hawke’s Murphy.
Ethan Hawke carries The Weight—pun intended. Murphy’s smarts and empathetic nature will have audiences rooting for the single father and his quest to reunite with his daughter.
Even with his limited screen time, Crowe makes his role memorable as a catalyst for the story’s progression.
The supporting cast—Julia Jones, Austin Amelio, Avi Nash and Sam Hazeldine—also hold their own, each bringing distinct personalities and motivations to the story.
The Weight is now playing in movie theaters.