Crowe and Hawke’s Depression-era prison thriller is at 93% — and RogerEbert gave it a rare full four stars
Hawke, Crowe and Julia Jones shot in real forests and rivers, and the reviews keep coming back to how physical it feels.
Russell Crowe does love getting grimy in the wilderness, doesn’t he? Now he’s back in the thick of it with The Weight, a historical drama that’s managed to get both critics and your average punter all hot and bothered. The film pairs Crowe with Ethan Hawke—and honestly, if you were trying to cook up a movie that would impress film buffs and popcorn crowd alike in 2026, that combo would probably be top of your shopping list.
The Weight just had its premiere on 18 September. Off the back of early screenings, it’s earned a rather eye-catching 93% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and 82% from the audience—a feat even some so-called 'modern classics' can’t manage half the time.
The Weight scored 93% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes after its September 2026 premiere.
What’s the film actually about?
Bit of an old-school set-up: Hawke and Crowe play Samuel Murphy and Warden Clancy, respectively, in 1933 Oregon—think chain gangs, pine forests, the works. Murphy gets banged up in a labour camp, ripped away from his daughter (played by Julia Jones). Clancy, Crowe’s grizzled prison boss, dangles a deal—if Murphy can sneak some gold through the forest (past all manner of threats), he might get to see his daughter again. But obviously, nothing’s that simple. There’s betrayal brewing in the group, and Murphy starts doubting whether he’s prepared to go all the way just for a chance at being a dad again.
Crowe, Hawke, mud and misery
If you’re picturing vast forests and rivers, you’re basically spot on. But what makes The Weight a bit special is just how much the cast had to actually rough it. Ethan Hawke and Julia Jones let slip in an interview with MovieWeb that they really did trudge through actual woods and rivers—no green screen wizardry, no CGI mud splashes.
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Hawke told the interviewer why the film has that bite to it:
There's a reason the film feels so visceral, because it was.
So if you get the sense the cast look cold, wet, and miserable, that’s not acting—it’s documentariesque suffering.
Critics: divided but curious
The reviews are genuinely striking. RogerEbert.com gave The Weight a full 4 out of 4 stars—which is rare enough these days that it deserves a raised eyebrow. Their Editor-at-Large, Matt Zoller Seitz, raved about the film’s willingness to shift genres partway through. What starts as your standard prison flick quickly spins into a survival adventure, then veers off into psychological thriller territory. Seitz said all these pivots actually work, and the film manages to pull off each one with style.
Others weren’t quite as blown away by the film’s pastiche of 1970s adventure movies. Mitchell Beaupre at The A.V. Club went all-in on the nostalgia, likening The Weight to both The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and William Friedkin’s Sorcerer—not light comparisons. Still, not everyone is seduced by a bit of retro bravado. Peter Travers, writing for The Travers Take, flagged up that all the old-school muscle could feel a bit familiar. But, as Travers admitted, if you’re going to have anyone dig for gold in the mountains, Crowe and Hawke do lift it beyond the usual pulp:
Predictable? To say the least. But Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe add a piercing vulnerability to the standard chest thumping.
It’s playing in select cinemas right now, if you’re in the mood for some Oregon forests and a tough bit of father-daughter drama.