The Weight Film Review: An Impressive Debut

Padraic McKinley’s feature film directorial debut, The Weight, is a tense thriller with immense atmosphere but slightly underwhelming payoff.

Leading McKinley’s film is Samuel Murphy, played by a grizzled but warm Ethan Hawke (the Before trilogy). He is a man who will just as readily hug his daughter lovingly one minute and punch the hell out of another man’s face the next. This cool, calm exterior punctuated by anger is indicative of The Weight itself. When the violence erupts from Murphy, McKinley keenly concentrates it into all its brutal value. After being sentenced to at least six months’ hard labour in the rural forest of Oregon, Murphy is offered a chance at freedom, and thus the possibility of reuniting with his young daughter Penny (Avy Berry, A Quiet Place: Day One). 

The offer comes by way of the labour camp’s overseer, Clancy (Russell Crowe, Gladiator), whose demeanour toward Murphy seems too kind and too good to be true. But Hawke’s character has little choice but to trust him, and embarks on a mission to deliver illicit gold across to a meeting point miles away. He is accompanied by three other prisoners—Austin (Austin Amelio, Hit Man), Singh (Avi Nash, Silo), and Olson (Lucas Lynggard Toønnesen, 1899)—and two guards—Amis (Sam Hazeldine, The Last Duel) and Letender (George Burgess, Land of Bad). With the setup complete after a slick opening, The Weight gets into the nuts and bolts of its gruelling story.

It is a tale that is brilliantly old-school and straightforward. These men all have places they want to get to, but the focus is on Murphy and his need to save his daughter from being moved into care. Of course, The Weight’s mission is not as simple as it seems, with mistrust, treacherous river and bridge crossings, and local bandits just a few of the issues these men face. The introduction of Anna (Julia Jones, a shining light alongside Hawke), the sole woman from the labour camp, adds further levels to the motley crew. With Murphy, she is the most fascinating member of the group.

For the most part, The Weight is deadly serious, with a couple of moments of humour along the way. McKinley keeps an impressive handle on the film’s central journey, always maintaining that propulsive, driven nature that is so vital to keep the energy up. During quieter moments, he impresses by focussing not just on the character delivering the lines, but also on those listening. We get to see their reactions, the effects of the words, and even foreshadowing of later actions or decisions. Matthew Woolley’s editing similarly impresses; it’s a smooth mixture of snappy dynamism or moody transitions. The visuals from Matteo Cocco are also strong, but could have benefitted from a more daring nature to really amplify the surroundings. We don’t fully experience the ominous natural world that encases these characters.

For all its adeptness in every department, The Weight ends underwhelmingly. Things get sewn up too neatly, and one never completely gets the sense of any true, tangible danger for many of the characters. There is an obligatory death of one, but it never feels like there will be any more. As Clancy, Crowe feels underused. Granted, he is logically only in the beginning and end of the film, but his appearance at its conclusion never meets the same magnetism as in its opening. Nevertheless, there is a lot to love in The Weight. Most notably, Hawke is brilliant, the glue that holds everything together, as a determined man who happens to be a skilled fighter, and also one of the best car mechanics to ever exist.

The Weight premiered at the Berlin Film Festival on February 17-21, 2026. Read our Berlin Film Festival reviews and our list of 20 films to watch at the 2026 Berlin Film Festival!