The Weight is a film that starred Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe that did not stay in the theaters for long. I would have gone to the theater to see the film, but, in my area anyway, it was gone pretty quickly and I could not fit it into my schedule. Fortunately, it came up on Fandango at Home this past week, and I was able to get it on the watch.

It was a solid historical drama with a great cast and some tense moments. Ethan Hawke showed, once again, what a versatile and powerful actor he is and his scenes with Russell Crowe were some of the best of the film. Crowe was not in the film as much, as his character was used at the beginning and then at the end of the movie.

According to IMDB, ” Desperate to save what is left of his family, during the height of the Great Depression, a battle-scarred veteran is hired to help smuggle a fortune in gold across 100 miles of impenetrable wilderness.“

The scenes set in the wilderness featured some spectacular imagery that stood out from the background. There is a scene on a rope bridge that takes that well-worn trope to a different level with some serious suspense in the crossing.

The ensemble cast was very good as well as it included Julia Jones, Austin Amelio, Avi Nash, Lucas Lynggaard Tønnesen, Sam Hazeldine, George Burgess, Alec Newman, and Cameron Brady.

The Weight is directed by Padraic McKinley, and he does a solid job with this, his first full length feature film. This is a director who knew the kind of movie he wanted to make and placed the story an his actors into situations to get the best from them.

The Weight was a very strong film that has some great acting and a visual story to tell. It deserved more time in the theater.

3.75 stars