At times The Weight is basically The Wages of Fear only on two legs, and that is in no way a bad thing. A classic of suspense film-making that's been remade a number of times - including the 70s classic Sorcerer and a recent French remake that was less than perfect - it's become the benchmark for a certain kind of white-knuckle tension. And while The Weight is a little smaller in scale, the tension hasn't shrunk a bit.
It's the 1930s, and single dad Samuel Murphy (Ethan Hawke) is, like much of the United States, struggling. He's a loving father who's doing his level best, but when an attempt to find somewhere to live goes awry he's sentenced to hard labour at a camp run by the baseball-loving J.J. Clancy (Russell Crowe).
Things seem set for a run of prison brutality, but when Murphy shows his technical skills off by removing a massive boulder (thus freeing up the inmates to play ball on Sunday), Clancy gets friendly. Turns out Murphy is working to a deadline - there's only a month or so before his daughter goes into permanent care, and even with a day's hard labour taking two off his sentence he won't get out in time. Impressed by his skills, Clancy makes him an offer he can't refuse.
Together with three men he can trust (which ends up being two men and a loud mouth), Murphy's sent over to a nearby gold mine. FDR is about to nationalise the nation's gold reserves, and a bunch of mines have already been robbed to get ahead of the compulsory acquisitions. To keep this load of gold in private hands, Murphy and his crew (accompanied by two guards) are going to carry it overland on a week-long trek through a wild forest to a pick up point.
If all the gold arrives safely, Murphy will sign their release papers. If even one bar goes missing, they get paid in lead. Which means they can't afford to lose any. Which means that when things start to get tricky - as they almost immediately do - they're stuck carrying the gold through rivers, over ravines, while fleeing from bandits, and through whatever other obstacles get thrown in their way. Not that anyone believes they'll be left to tell their story even if they do succeed.
The supporting cast are broadly sketched but that's enough to do the job. Even Crowe is only around for a handful of scenes; this is Hawke's film, and he's matured into the kind of compelling presence that can hold a scene together just by watching what everyone else is up to.
This isn't exactly an action film, though there are a number of action scenes, and even a shootout or two - think something closer to a 70s-ro-80s tough guy drama. The storytelling from director Padraic McKinley is firmly grounded in the physical, all struggling men and muddy ground, and the forest setting is both beautiful and ominous.
They're on enemy turf the whole way, whether the threat is a rickety rope bridge that will carry a person or a sake of gold but not both, or a seemingly friendly prospector who might have a few friends hiding in the darkness.
There isn't a lot of subtext to this, but there doesn't need to be: the basic set-up is more than gripping enough to make this work. The Weight is a smart, polished, edge-of-your-seat thriller that builds the tension until you can't take your eyes off the screen; it may not be a blockbuster, but this kind of film is worth its weight in gold.
- Anthony Morris
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