Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe in a Wild Oregon Adventure

In 1933, the Great Depression was in full swing, and the Oregon wilderness was a tough place to survive. Padraic McKinley's movie, The Weight, tries to capture this rough time with a story about gold, greed, and survival. It has big names like Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe, but does it really bring the past to life? The movie follows Samuel Murphy, played by Hawke, a widowed dad trying to keep his daughter safe. When he gets into trouble, he ends up in a prison camp run by the shady Warden Clancy, played by Crowe. Clancy offers Murphy a deal: help transport gold illegally, and he might get out early to save his daughter from being adopted. It sounds like a classic adventure story, but does it deliver?The actors do a great job, especially Hawke and Julia Jones, who plays Anna, a runaway from a harsh school. But the movie struggles to make the characters feel real and the stakes feel high. The journey through the wilderness is dangerous, but the tension doesn't always hold. The movie has some cool moments, like a tense scene with a rope bridge over a deep gorge. The music is also interesting, with a mix of modern and old sounds. But overall, it feels like it could have been more exciting and emotional.