The Weight (15)

In 1933 Oregon, widower Samuel Murphy is the victim of cruel misfortune as he seeks to take care of his young daughter Penny. Unknowingly, he assaults police officers and as swift and stinging punishment, Samuel is sent to a brutal work camp run by glowering warden Clancy, who demands submission from his charges. Penny is due to be adopted before Samuel's year-long sentence is served so he is interested when the warden dangles the carrot of early release papers.

LondonNet Film Review

The Weight (15) Film Review from LondonNet

Guilt and despair can weigh heavily. In Padraic McKinley’s tense Depression-era crime drama, emotional baggage saps the energy and resolve of physically imposing brutes and only the most determined characters emerge unscathed from a gruelling trek through the untamed Oregon wilderness. The Weight puts underdogs on tight leashes, and tries to break their spirits with bruising punishment, then creates the perfect adverse conditions for a resourceful runt to bite the hand that beats it…

In 1933 Oregon, widower Samuel Murphy (Ethan Hawke) is the victim of cruel misfortune as he seeks to take care of his young daughter Penny (Avy Perry). Unknowingly, he assaults police officers and as swift and stinging punishment, Samuel is sent to a brutal work camp run by glowering warden Clancy (Russell Crowe), who demands submission from his charges. Defiance is met with intimidation, or worse. Penny is due to be adopted before Samuel’s year-long sentence is served so he is interested when the warden dangles the carrot of early release papers.

To reduce his sentence and reunite with his child, Samuel must smuggle gold on foot through deadly wilderness back to Clancy. President Roosevelt has just announced gold held in storage must be reclaimed for the Federal Reserve and Clancy intends to make a sizable withdrawal from a vault located 100 miles away in the woods before anyone realises the lustrous bricks are missing. Samuel joins three other prisoners, Olson (Lucas Lynggaard Tonnesen), Rankin (Austin Amelio) and Singh (Avi Nash), to complete the operation, with one of Clancy’s hired guns, Taggert (Alec Newman), accompanying the crew with firepower. An indigenous woman named Anna (Julia Jones) unexpectedly joins the cross-country odyssey and she bears witness to resentment and mistrust percolating between desperate men.

The Weight is an assured character study anchored firmly to Hawke’s nuanced and compelling portrayal of a down-on-his-luck father, who quietly observes the weaknesses of people who believe they have him in their vice-like control. His scintillating performance dominates every frame of McKinley’s feature film directorial debut and throws into sharp relief the lack of depth in some supporting players.

Crowe doesn’t break a sweat embodying his threatening taskmaster. Menace glints in his eyes while Jones serves limited narrative purpose beyond offering an obvious antidote to all that testosterone sloshing about on screen. Screenwriters Matthew Booi and Shelby Gaines skip between genres like a stone skittering across the glassy surface of a lake as they address incendiary racial politics of the era, choreograph action sequences and stoke interpersonal rivalries. McKinley shoulders the weight of responsibility for melding elements with a cool head.

– Kim Hu