The Weight (2026) – Review

Quick Thoughts:

1. Ethan Hawke is 100% believable. He delivers a physically impressive performance.
2. It’s nice seeing a film shot on location. The German locations aren’t exactly the Pacific Northwest, but they look nice.
3. I love rickety bridge scenes.
4. Julia Jones should get bigger roles.
5. Director Padraic McKinley and Ethan Hawke have been doing good work together.
6. Best 2026 boulder moving.

McKinley described the shoot as fast, scrappy, and rough around the edges, and he crafted the film to feel like Deliverance, Sorcerer, and Jeremiah Johnson. The result is a low-budget action film that features another excellent Ethan Hawke performance. There are rickety bridges, gold blocks, dangerous country folk, and a lot of walking (which Ethan Hawke is familiar with). The bare-bones plot is refreshingly straightforward, and it’s nice to watch a resourceful man up against impossible odds (and rogue floating logs).

The Weight kicks off with World War I veteran Samuel Murphy (Ethan Hawke) pushing his 1930s Ford to its limits along Pacific Northwest dirt roads to entertain his young daughter Penny (Avy Berry). Murphy is pretending to be chased by cops, and his reckless driving makes sense when we learn he’s a mechanic who can repair any damage their joyride causes to the stressed vehicle. The veteran Murphy is also a widower who struggles to make money during the Great Depression. His lack of repair jobs leads to eviction from their shabby apartment, which forces them to look for a new place to live. While apartment hunting, he gets into a fight with a group of thuggish cops who arrest him and send him to hard labor under the watchful eye of warden Clancy (Russell Crowe), a stern-but-fair(ish) man who bonds with Murphy over their love of cars (and Murphy’s ability to fix them). When Murphy proves himself to be a capable engineer, Clancy recruits him for a mission that will grant him immediate freedom and reunite him with his daughter before she becomes a ward of the state. Murphy is tasked with recruiting three reliable prisoners, and they’ll travel to a gold mine in the Oregon wilderness where they collect backpacks stuffed with gold bars and transport them through treacherous mountain terrain. They’re trekking with the gold bars because of President Franklin D. Roosevelt passing Executive Order 6102, which required all Americans to turn in their gold to the government. Their job is to keep the gold safe and out of the government’s hands.

What follows is a 72-hour hike in which Murphy, alongside his prisoner buddies Rankin (Austin Amelio), Singh (Avi Nash), and Olson (Lucas Lynggaard Tønnesen), cover many miles while being watched by mining company guards Amis (Sam Hazeldine) and Letender (George Burgess – a physically imposing former Rugby player turned actor). They are joined by Anna (Julia Jones), who catches them leaving the mining camp and joins them for protection and a way out of Oregon. During their trek, they come across shady hunters, dangerous rivers, and tall mountains that make carrying large quantities of gold almost impossible.

In the press notes, Hawke mentions that he signed on for the project because he wanted to make a simple film about a “good person who values things like integrity, decency, and hard work.” His performance anchors the film, and it’s nice seeing Hawke play a physically capable man who can catch heavy gold bars while standing on a wooden-planked bridge that’s falling apart (excellent scene). His presence makes the film feel special because it’s nice following a capable man who is really good at walking, hunting, fighting, driving, and surviving.

Costume designer Esther Walz drew inspiration from The Grapes of Wrath and created denim-heavy outfits that look authentic and practical. Cinematographer Matteo Cocco attempted to blend the artistic look of Train Dreams and the grittiness of Sorcerer, with some success. Cocco shot the film with an ARRI ALEXA 35, which can capture low-light shots with its enhanced sensitivity modes. This saved director McKinley from time-wasting lighting setups that wasted the natural light.

The MVPs of the production are the southeastern German forests, home to lush green trees and an endless terrain. They don’t exactly mimic the Pacific Northwest wilderness (the film was shot in Germany because of tax credits and production partnerships); instead, they provide welcome realism, and it’s nice knowing the crew battled the wilderness to make the film feel dangerous and authentic.

Final thoughts – Watch it for Ethan Hawke’s performance. He’s great.