For Ethan Hawke, 2025 was quite the year, showing impressively jarring range as both a bitter gay lyricist in Blue Moon and a demonic child-killer in Black Phone 2, both out at the same time in cinemas, a uniquely terrifying double-bill for diehards. He also led critically adored new noir series The Lowdown, airing simultaneously, all serving as reminder of how he’s one of the hardest-working established actors we have. Not many five-time Oscar nominees have made eight films in the last four years (while also directing two other films on the side).
It doesn’t all hit (Raymond and Ray, anyone?) but there’s something unusually invigorating about someone with his level of fame still seeming so excited about the many different opportunities he can maximise (this is, after all, the guy who made millions from his crafty back-end deal for The Purge). He’s on far safer ground, at least as an actor, in The Weight, a conventional adventure drama about gold smuggling in the early 1930s, but his increased versatility has earned him an increase in confidence and while the work here might err more on the physical, he easily anchors the film.
