The Weight

"A tale of good and evil."

2026 1h 52m EN

👍

6.9

SOLID

★6.9TMDB · 41

DramaThrillerCrime

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

When Samuel is torn from his daughter and sent to a brutal prison, Warden Clancy offers him a high-stakes proposition: smuggle gold out of a remote mine with a dangerous crew of prisoners and he’ll win his freedom.

“A tale of good and evil.”

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Cast

Ethan Hawke
Samuel Murphy
Russell Crowe
Warden Clancy
Julia Jones
Anna
Austin Amelio
Rankin
Avi Nash
Singh
Lucas Lynggaard Tønnesen
Olson
Sam Hazeldine
Amis
George Burgess
Letender

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Padraic McKinley
Writers: Shelby Gaines, Matthew Booi, Leo Scherman
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America, Germany, France

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released this year — you're seeing it while it's still in the cultural conversation.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 3 countries: United States of America, Germany, France.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Padraic McKinley, shot by Matteo Cocco. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Latham Gaines. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Padraic McKinley shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe and Julia Jones carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "A tale of good and evil.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt10794054 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Padraic McKinley directs. Matteo Cocco behind the camera. Latham Gaines scores. Padraic McKinley cuts. Produced in United States of America, Germany, France. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released this year — you're seeing it while it's still in the cultural conversation.
2International production across 3 countries: United States of America, Germany, France.
3Directed by Padraic McKinley, shot by Matteo Cocco. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Latham Gaines. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Padraic McKinley shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe and Julia Jones carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "A tale of good and evil.".
8IMDB entry: tt10794054 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Only 41 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
10Classified under 9 themes, including "gold", "great depression", "oregon, usa", "military veteran".

The technical file

Cinematography: Matteo Cocco
Original score: Latham Gaines
Editing: Padraic McKinley
Production design: Cora Pratz
Costume design: Esther Walz
Runtime: 112 min · 1h 52m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Weight (2026)

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Padraic McKinley

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Leno2026-09-08
★ 7/10
I always love "frontier" movies. The thought of how it felt for the pioneers to explore an essentially lawless and unmaped wilderness is at the very least intellectually enticing and makes for a great movie. "The weight" is not quite a frontier movie because it's set in Klamath Falls during the great depression, a much later period, but still drinks from the same fountain by describing a group of convicts carrying a heavy gold cargo through wilderness with the hopes it will grant them freedom. The plot twists are quite predictable and the end very vanilla and exactly what the viewer will expect, but it's an overall fun movie and the visuals make it better.
CinemaSerf2026-10-08
★ 6/10
Struggling to keep the roof over the heads of himself and his daughter, "Murphy" (Ethan Hawke) gets embroiled in a fist-fight that sees him condemned to an hard labour sentence and his daughter taken into care. He knows that his chances of getting her back before she is adopted are fairly remote, but perhaps the boss at his road-building camp might be able to help? "Murphy" is an adaptable sort, quick-thinking and problem-solving, and that impresses "Clancy" (Russell Crowe) who makes him a proposition. Select three of his friends and set off on a trek across the pristine wilderness on a special project. If it all goes to plan then upon his return he will be released in time to rescue "Penny". Meanwhile, in a Washington D.C. struggling with the great depression, President Roosevelt has confiscated all private gold holdings from the mines and so with his agents en-route, one shrewd manager determines to shift his tonnage out of harm's way. Yep, that turns out to be the very task for "Murphy", his pals and their two armed escorts whose purpose is never really quite clear but easy it isn't going to be as they set of across the unforgiving terrain. Things only get more difficult when they are joined by the escaping "Anna" (Julia Jones) and then become aware that some locals are all set to do their very own "Deliverance" (1972) on the group, too. As they travel we are introduced to the group, exposed to their foibles and demons and for the savvy "Murphy" - essentially quite a decent family man - it proves to be quite eye-opening and painful. For a while this is quite a claustrophobic drama that examines many of the motivations for those caught up in the poverty and hopelessness of the times. Each character from their group seems to tick a box in terms of their character, their malevolence or decency and with Jones proving quite effective at simultaneously stabilising and upsetting their ship, the drama has quite a potent intensity to it. Sadly for me, though, there was always something a little circular about the plot and as we get into the last half hour serendipity played just a little too much of a part. The often quite intense photography captures the perils of their journey well and there are a few set-piece action scenes - including the bullion equivalent of dwarf-tossing, that kept it interesting for a while but with the jeopardy gradually ebbing away I left feeling a little disappointed and thinking it was more of a wait than a weight.