THE WEIGHT (2026)

We all have dreams. And with having dreams comes, of course, adversities and choices, and all the natural variables and people in between. Ethan Hawke seemed an odd choice to play a depression-era father condemned to a work camp. The actor is explicably modern. It’s in the way speaks and holds himself. He is of this time and no wardrobe or dialogue can disguise his contemporaneousness. This is not to say he’s a bad actor, he always brings it, as he does once again for The Weight. He just couldn’t convince us that he’s a man actually bobbing along in the 1930s. Thankfully, the film is about so much more. Hawke plays Samual, a hard-on-his-luck widower, desperate to reunite with his young daughter after a misunderstanding with the police. You see, Samual knows who he is, which is timeless and it’s what makes the film and story so interesting. Also keeping it real is Russell Crowe (Clancy), there with a handshake deal for Samual, who together with a gaggle of near strangers, is off into the wilderness to move some gold and win his freedom. It’s a lot like Sorcerer (1977) and we would bet the contrived bridge scene is a direct nod. Still, the script keeps it mostly grounded (we’ve watched enough UFC to know the hardness and number of hits to stop a man); and it surprises with its simple, slow moving dangers. And this is where Hawke’s disposition makes sense. Though he often forgets to telegraph he’s a man in physical pain, his purpose is clear. He is all of us, no matter the time and it’s refreshing to watch a story with brutal, and yet realistic obstacles. Do they make the man? The film, we feel, argues that it might be the other way around.

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