Ethan Hawke’s The Weight is in UK cinemas. His essential work runs from Linklater’s Before films and Boyhood to Training Day and Paul Schrader’s First Reformed.
No stranger to serious acclaim, Ethan Hawke is back in the spotlight—or, to be fair, he never really left—with a new historical drama called The Weight. Before we get too starry-eyed over his latest, let's take a little detour through Hawke’s impressively eclectic filmography. Yes, he’s up for a fifth Oscar (well, if there’s any justice), three Golden Globes, and if there’s a shortlist in Hollywood, his name’s probably on it. If you’re new to Hawke’s back catalogue or just want a bit of nostalgia, here’s a ranking of his finest turns on the big screen, right as The Weight readies itself for UK cinemas.
The Weight made the rounds at the film festivals first, holding steady with a striking 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, and will officially hit British cinemas on 18 September.
Now, on to the main event—some of Hawke’s absolute best, ranked for your pleasure (and possible outrage).
Before Trilogy I’m breaking the rules straight out of the gate, but you can’t just pick one out of Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight. Richard Linklater’s three-part romance is a proper masterclass in writing and acting. Hawke and Julie Delpy play Jesse and Céline, whose once-in-a-lifetime train meeting in Budapest sparks a relationship that drifts and re-ignites across decades. The first film captures every bit of heady, flirty youthful romance, the second (set years after) has them reconnecting and unpacking their lost potential, and the third—well, the third brings a more adult, and arguably more honest, conclusion. If you fancy a trilogy that’s the opposite of contrived, this is it.
First Reformed Probably Hawke’s most recent standout, and it’s harrowing stuff. Paul Schrader directs him as a small town clergyman in upstate New York, completely battered by crises of faith, modernity, and personal guilt. It’s bleak, yes, but it’s Hawke in top form—carrying the existential weight of the film, with Amanda Seyfried along for an unexpectedly touching subplot. You’ll struggle to find a more haunted, nuanced performance from him.
Training Day Hawke stars as the wide-eyed rookie Jake Hoyt, spending a day getting thoroughly compromised by Denzel Washington’s spectacularly corrupt Detective Harris. Fuqua’s 2001 thriller is remembered for Washington (who fully earned his Oscar), but Hawke is the soul of the film—the nervous conscience to all that swaggering villainy. It’s a career-making turn, and absolutely holds up all these years later.
Boyhood Another massive swing with Linklater, Boyhood is an absurdly ambitious project: filmed bit by bit over twelve actual years (no, really), it tracks the coming-of-age of a Texas boy, with Hawke and Patricia Arquette playing his divorced parents. While Ellar Coltrane (the titular boy) deserves credit, Hawke and Arquette bring all the nuance you want in long-haul, changing parental roles. It’s also a technical oddity—watching actors genuinely age on screen, without makeup cheats or recasting.
Reality Bites Back in the 90s, if you wanted a romantic comedy with coffeehouse angst, this is it. The cast is stacked—Hawke, Ben Stiller, Winona Ryder, plus a few scene-stealers like Janeane Garofalo and Steve Zahn. Everyone’s playing a Gen X stereotype, Hawke especially as the moody, ‘slacker’ musician. Yes, it’s a bit much at times, but there’s real charm and Hawke’s dynamic with Ryder helps the film rise above pure self-parody. It’s also where loads of people ‘discovered’ him, making it worthy of a mention.
If you’ve only just clocked Hawke from his festival darling The Weight, there’s quite a bit more in his back pocket—you could do a lot worse than giving any of these a go before September rolls around.
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