Films such as John Huston’s The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, John Boorman’s Deliverance, Henri-Georges Clouzot’s The Wages of Fear and William Friedkin’s remake, Sorcerer, were thematically daring motion pictures. These films (and their creators) broke rules and took chances. Each work was a gritty and sometimes violent examination of greed and moral corruption against a backdrop of perilous journeys through merciless environments. Padraic McKinley’s The Weight may not reach the heights of such classics, but it is a powerful return to a style and era of cinema that has gone the way of the samurai.
Ethan Hawke is Samuel Murphy, a man living during the Great Depression who works hard to provide for his young daughter, Penny (Avy Berry). After the two are evicted, a misunderstanding leads to Samuel getting thrown in jail where he is eventually sent to a work camp. While there, his calm demeanor and deep knowledge of car repair catches the eye of Warden Clancy (Russell Crowe).
Samuel is a man who carries great sorrow. His wife is dead and he is fighting an uphill battle to provide for his daughter, Penny . Samuel is a good man, but lives in a time where the country was failing its citizens. As a provider, he tries his best and knows Penny loves her poppa, but it is tough to allow himself to feel deserved of her love. himself as a failure. Ethan Hawke has become a master of portraying intense inner pain and anger and effortlessly portrays the shame of a father who can’t always look his child in the eye. The actor’s seemingly limitless skills are well served by the character.
As the Depression has hit everyone, Warden Clancy comes up with a plan to smuggle gold from a nearby mining camp. The gold is about to be requisitioned by FDR as emergency resources. Clancy figures the country screwed everyone and he should get his share of compensation. After sizing up his new inmate and bringing him back to his home for drinks and discussion, Clancy decides Samuel is the man for the job. The warden puts up the offer, telling Samuel that he can choose three men to help and, if the mission is successful, they will all get released upon completion.
Samuel doesn’t trust Clancy, but accepts his offer. There is nothing he will not do to get his daughter back.
Russell Crowe is very good but he isn’t given much to do. Crowe has a tendency (these days) to overact, but he keeps this work mellow. Clancy isn’t the stereotype we see from most prison films. The man is crooked but not evil, nor is he sadistic, as is the cliche of most movie prison wardens. Clancy never raises his voice, offers Samuel all the Dr. Pepper he can drink, and is genuinely in awe of his skills with automobiles. This one of the most interesting characters Russell Crowe has played in a while. The actor’s intriguing performance deserved more screen time.
After choosing his fellow inmates (Austin Amelio, Avi Nash, and Lucas Lynggaard Tønnesen) to assist in the scheme, and watched over by two hired armed men (Sam Hazeldine and George Burgess), the crew sets out for a five day trek through the Oregon wilderness.
This is where The Weight begins to hit many expected beats that reference the films that influenced screenwriters Matthew Booi, Shelby Gaines, and Matthew Chapman. There is the hillbilly who comes in the middle of the night and may have sinister intentions; nods to Deliverance and Southern Comfort. There are the deadly white water rapids; a return to Deliverance. There is the raggedy bridge that swings over a crevice, a’la The Wages of Fear and Sorcerer. Finally, there is the examination of greed and the darkened soul, which gives the director his tether to The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
McKinley makes each moment work as best he can. The bridge scene has suspense, but there will never be another that tops what William Friedkin executed for Sorcerer. The hillbilly who comes calling becomes a throwaway that leads nowhere. The moment in the rapids is well-handled, but it is the thematic intentions in the human drama that makes the film work. Watching Samuel navigate his risk-versus-reward predicament is the film’s real pull. Seeing how he quietly sizes up his comrades and uses what he knows about them to survive is fascinating.
Two major problems with McKinley’s film are found in the handling of an important supporting character and the finale.
Julia Jones is Anna, a Native American woman who joins with the men to escape the hell of being an indigenous woman in a predominantly male mining camp. Jones is a good actress and has been a standout in projects like the television series Dexter: New Blood and the under-seen film, Rez Ball from 2024. The character becomes an important addition regarding Samuel and the outcome of it all, but, like Crowe’s Warden Clancy, the actress isn’t given enough to do. Anna is prominent during some harrowing moments, but isn’t allowed much dialogue or backstory. The audience cares for her, because she and Samuel find a connection. Not of the romantic nature, but one of two good people lost in a world of corrupt men.
The final moments nearly betray the entire film. Spoilers do not allow me to explain in detail, but there is a coda that feels tacked on. The moment is rendered insufferable when the director decides to score it to a song from Lynyrd Skynyrd. After creating a darkly ambient mood through the moody synth score from Lathamm and Shelby Gaines, to use a 70s Rock song seems odd and the sequence plays as if it were shot for a different type of motion picture.
Problems aside, the film works very well. Hawke does powerful work that ranks amongst his finest. Matteo Cocco’s cinematography is stunning, as the forests and mountains of Germany stand in for Oregon. The supporting cast each have their moments. The screenplay is well crafted and McKinley directs with patience and vision.
The filmmaker doesn’t want to merely emulate craftsmen on the levels of Huston, Friedkin, Hill, and Boorman. The Weight is certainly a tribute, but the film is its own entity; its heavy themes achieving a strong impact, considering the current state of the world.
In a time where the country suffers greatly from the rapacity of its leaders, the righteous find no shelter and are given no quarter. Such is the fate of Hawke’s Samuel Murphy.
The Weight is a very good and constantly involving work, but one with too many issues that consistently prevent it from reaching greater heights.
The Weight
Written by Matthew Booi, Shelby Gaines, & Matthew Chapman
Directed by Padraic McKinley
Starring Ethan Hawke, Russell Crowe, Avy Berry, Julia Jones, Austin Amelio, Avi Nash, Lucas Lynggaard Tønnesen
R, 115 Minutes, Vertical Entertainment
