Convicts on a mission in the wild

 The Weight begs comparison to the Henri-Georges Clouzot's 1953 French classic Wages of Fear, remade in 1977 as Sorcerer by director William Friedkin. Like his predecessors, first-time director Padraic McKinley offers a stripped-down Depression Era story about men facing perilous conditions as they transport gold through the wilds of Oregon. An action-oriented plot kicks in when the warden of a camp prison (Russell Crowe) offers Ethan Hawke’s Murphy an opportunity to win a pardon. Wrongly convicted and eager to reunite with the young daughter who has been sent to foster care, the widowed Murphy selects a gang of cohorts for a mission that will take them through rough terrain. The prisoners are accompanied by guards (Sam Hazeldine and George Burgess) who leave the heavy lifting to the convicts.  At one point, they must get the gold across a rope bridge that can only support the weight of one of them.  McKinley builds suspense into the movie’s set pieces and adds flavor with supporting characters, notably troublemaker Rankin (Austin Amelio) and a native-American woman (Julia Jones) who joins the prisoners’ foray. Played by a grizzled-looking Hawke with fierce determination, Murphy emerges as a natural leader who dominates the proceedings. Does The Weight measure up to its predecessors? Not quite, but it offers a serviceable helping of tension as its characters confront one danger after another. And, yes, when it comes to gold,  you can bet that deceit and greed will be in play.

The life of a faux hit man

 

   I'm generally sympathetic to movies that arrive without proclaiming themselves to be major cultural landmarks.

   Although it played at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, director Richard Linklater’s Hit Man arrives without a pushy pedigree. It does,  however, have a taste for devious fun, which turns out to be better than a ton of hyped-up flash.

    Based on a true story adapted from an article in Texas Monthly, Hit Man introduces us to Gary Johnson (Glenn Powell), a college professor who does gig work for the New Orleans Police Department. 

   Sitting in a truck equipped with recorders, Johnson joins a team that documents sting operations that nab those looking to hire killers to solve their problems.

   The movie’s major twist occurs early on. Johnson is asked to fill in for a detective (Austin Amelio) who built his reputation by posing as a hitman, but who has been suspended for using excessive force. 

   Powell gives an engaging performance as a philosophy professor who blossoms when he assumes different identities -- adopting new attitudes along with them. He learns that every encounter requires a pitch-perfect performance. He brings a lively imagination to the task, and his life is energized by  newfound success.

    Angry that he's been replaced by a "non-professional," Amelio's Jasper never joins the Johnson fan club. He represents potential trouble.

   Complications arise, and it's here that the movie presumably veers from Johnson’s real-life story. In Linklater’s telling, Johnson falls for Maddy (Adria Arjona), a woman who wants him to kill her abusive husband. 

   Instead of busting Maddy, Johnson tells her to leave the lout.  He's infatuated, and we know that sex and love will follow -- not with Gary Johnson but with his cool alter-ego hitman, Ron.

  Johnson's on a slippery slope: He begins to become the roles he's playing, a kind of quiet endorsement of the fake-it-'til-you-make-it school of philosophy. Can the ruse be sustained? How and when might it all blow up? 

   Linklater plays with issues of identity, dangles red herrings, and piles on twists — not all of them credible. But Powell’s appealing string of poses and ploys keep Linklater’s Hit Man on an entertaining track.