User reviews

'Blackway' is about as straight forward of a story line as you'll ever get, and yet it's all the more enjoyable for that reason alone. Frequently films spend so much time trying to be complex that they forget to keep the realism factor and allow the characters to carry the movie. Some reasonably large actors (not so much currently, but in their time) signed on to this. Ray Liotta has always been a personal favourite of mine. He's very much suited to the character. He can play 'unlikable' very well. Julia Stiles is a little clunky in her line delivery at time, but has just enough acting chops in other areas to get away with it. The stand-out for me though was Anythony Hopkins. What a delight it is to watch this man act. He may not have the energy in his roles he once had, but his presence more than makes up for it. His line delivery is elegant and yet menacing in its own way at the same time. To think at 78 he is still working as frequently as he is is astonishing.

Quiet little independent films like this often go one of two ways. Either they're incredibly dull, simply trying to be more than they are capable of. Or in the case of 'Blackway' they just perfectly find their niche and are a delight to watch. It's far from perfect and there's nothing game-changing here, but if you're just looking for an enjoyable 90 minute experience you won't be disappointed.

I saw Go With Me at the Stockholm International Film Festival and I walked in not expecting much mainly because of the cast - Anthony Hopkins and Ray Liotta have both been in some questionable stuff lately - and i walked out pretty pleased, but it's still a very flawed movie though.

The acting by Julia Stiles is a little distracting at times and it took me out of the movie. Anthony Hopkins gave a pretty good performance but nothing too great.

The biggest problems are in the script and the story. I won't give anything away but when the main plot kicked off I instantly knew where it was headed. The cinematography was bland and grey and boring and there were nothing pretty to look at.

Overall a pretty enjoyable movie and I would recommend checking it out.

6/10.

"Sure would be better for everyone involved if she just left town." Lillian (Stiles) has just returned to her hometown after years away. Once she becomes the target of a stalker she asks for help but only Lester (Hopkins) is willing to offer it. Now the two of them must not only find out who the mysterious Blackway is but stop him before things get too far. This is a movie that is first and foremost tense and a good mystery story. On the other hand the movie is a little generic and cliché and would be a really good TV movie if not for the cast. The cast in this really raises the movie above that. Hopkins is good and Stiles plays her part well, but there were a few plot points that were added and either forgotten about or didn't seem to fit with the rest of the movie. All that said, the movie isn't bad and is a decent watch for what it is. Overall, a really good TV movie that became more due to the casting alone. I give this a B-.

Daniel "brother of Tomas" Alfredson directed two parts of the Swedish Millennium Trilogy, so it's no wonder this chilly American thriller, filmed in British Columbia, should feel so... well, Scandinavian. If the lens were filtered any further the movie would be monochrome.

Julia Stiles plays Lillian, a stoic young woman living in a Pacific Northwest logging community, who's being bullied by local gangster Richard Blackway (Ray Liotta). When she goes to the sheriff she's fobbed off and told to leave town. Instead, she enlists the help of old-timer Lester (Anthony Hopkins) and young bruiser Nate (Alexander Ludwig). Together the trio head into the hills to track down Blackway and stop him for good – by whatever means necessary.

With confidence and determination in the face of grotty small town politics, Stiles is channelling something of Jennifer Lawrence's classic Winter's Bone performance here. Lillian's outlook is definite (and defiant) to a fault: "Some people are just bad," she concludes.

Alongside Stiles, Hopkins soft-spoken style is sometimes at odds with the confrontational nature of his character, but he's eminently watchable. And Ludwig is strong as a stuttering soulful warrior who could have been a swaggering cliché.

The first hour is all character-building, and this is where the film is at its strongest. The plot is simple and linear – the ideal foundation for characters to come alive through their interactions, often enriched by the vaguest mention of some unseen life; some mourned-for ex- wife. The dialogue rings true and the characters feel lived in, which is vital for depictions of tight rural communities.

There isn't much in the way of humour, but Go With Me is at least in touch with its absurdity, and it's a lot more fun than Scott Cooper's ostensibly similar Out of the Furnace. This film is fast- paced and full of interesting incident – up to a point. Unfortunately in the final reel the narrative unravels, and the climactic confrontation is a frustratingly dark, indistinct mess. It leaves you with a sense of hard work not quite paying off.

Overall it's a solid movie. Thanks in part to the terrible UK title (it's called Blackway in the US), it's likely to go unnoticed by a wide audience, but it deserves attention.

If you, just like me, can't get enough of bleak and gritty small-town dramas, this one might be for you. Blackway slowly builds momentum and although not as good as Blue Ruin (2013) - one of my favorite films in the genre - actually feels kind of similar in 'realness' and setup. Dialogue is quite sparse but complements the low-key grading of the scenes perfectly. I doubt this film will make any significant waves with the general public, but Anthony Hopkins performance is as solid as ever and the story is pretty believable. Over all good performances by the cast. I would recommend for anybody into drama and or revenge type films.

I don't get the bad reviews...it's a good plot, survival of the fittest. I think it's a film worth seeing just because of the plot. It felt like something real that actually happens. Sometimes you can't count on the authorities to help you because they just don't care and this film portraits that.

It's not the best film of your life but it's better than a lot of films nowadays. At least I didn't fall asleep like I did on Avengers or was it Captain America? Maybe it was Spider man or Iron man, not sure they all look the same. (PS: I never payed for these films, always got free tickets).

This was a movie that started well and really set me up for a suspenseful movie but unfortunately it never really quite delivered. I thought that both Julia Stiles and Alexander Ludwig were pretty good and of course Anthony Hopkins, but lets be honest this was a okay script but maybe the director wasn't to good? disappointing especially since I've read the book. The scenes of British Columbia is beautiful and makes me want to visit but also gives the movie a cold feeling about it as if you were there. Ray Liotta never really struck me as a great bad guy. But he did okay here, I think this movie didn't quite hit it's potential.

Its a good movie. Honest. Great cast. Ray liotta scary as ever. Worth watching

"You're probably just a bad dad."

"Blackway" is like a badly composed fitness program, an unbalanced diet or a poorly planned vacation trip. You start off with certain expectations, but eventually you have to conclude that nothing essential changed or happened. No top shape, no slender figure and no holiday experience that'll stick to you eternally. The same applies to "Blackway". It's not an impressing movie experience. It remains a vague thriller without much sensation.

It was clear that this community consisted of seasoned loggers in checkered winter coats. Such a closed society where strangers are looked at in suspicion and where they react quite aggressively when too much prying questions are asked. Even if those questions are asked by like-minded souls. I still don't understand why these roughnecks and frightening trappers fear one individual. By joining forces (and it's not even necessary that the whole loggers federation gather, when you look at their torso) they would have felled, subsequently chopped and removed Blackway (Ray Liotta) without too many problems. Forget it. The man seems to be the devil himself. That's why all these tough guys hide in their safe block huts, I guess.

Fortunately for Lillian (Julia Stiles), there are two helpful scouts members who aren't easily intimidated and run away swiftly when it gets dangerous. If you compare their figure with the other typical tree sawyers, it seems more like a suicide mission. On the one hand there's the old, tough ex-lumberman Lester (Anthony Hopkins), who's apparently on a revenge-mission when it's about Blackway and without thinking he gets his moose rifle. And secondly there's the stuttering, shy Nate (Alexander Ludwig) who actually has no idea why he's joining this willingly. I was wondering about the same thing. The three of them start their mission to find Blackway and to make clear to him that he should leave Lillian alone. Indeed, that is the ultimate starting point of the whole story. Finding the former policeman Blackway who has worked his way up to the status of local bad-ass. The one everybody's afraid of (even the local police) and who's stalking Lillian. A simple story-line for a simple movie. "Finding Blackway" instead of Dory.

Ultimately, this was just an average film. You'll see the three protagonists on their quest and ending in a not so very original denouement. Along the way we get the mandatory fights and skirmishes with Nate grimly throwing himself into the battles. At least he's useful when doing this. Lester limits himself to cold-blooded dialogues and demonstratively waving his wrapped gun. Blackway behaves as a moose being hunted down. As expected. Sir Hopkins remains a brilliant actor. It's a pleasure to watch him acting even though his contribution is limited to glassy and absent staring. However, the whole time I had the impression that I was watching a nature documentary with Hannibal Lecter in it. A kind of "Silence of the woods". Lillian remained faithful to her role as victim. Although I'm sure she was already sorry of not taking the advice (endlessly repeated by the inhabitants) after a while.

All in all it wasn't a memorable movie. Despite the splendor images and the right atmosphere, it was all rather mediocre. And even the presence of Hopkins couldn't resolve this. The reputation of Blackway looked like that of Candyman. His name was pronounced every five minutes (awe-struck and full of fear) so I got the feeling he could appear any moment somewhere out of a dark corner. A corner filled with pine scent of course.

More reviews here : http://bit.ly/1KIdQMT

I agree with the 10 January 2107 review ("The movie isn't bad..."). I had recorded this movie and was going to check out the first few minutes and watch something else, but I couldn't stop watching. The story may be simple but the cast is stellar, and the story moves along at a steady pace. I liked the fact that we weren't sure through most of the movie what the characters were likely to do. The average of 5.2 is way too low in my opinion. Anthony Hopkins is great of course, but how about Hal Holbrook's understated and as usual impressive. Alexander Ludwig's performance was a continuous surprise of excellence--surprising I suppose only because I haven't been paying enough attention to his career.

Released in 2015, "Blackway" is a crime drama/thriller starring Anthony Hopkins as a retired logger who comes to the aid of a harassed woman (Julia Stiles) in Pinterville, Oregon, after the yella sheriff refuses to help. Alexander Ludwig plays the young stuttering redneck who tags along while Ray Liotta appears as the titular heavy. Hal Holbrook has a small role.

This is a grim backwoods drama/thriller with elements of "The Edge" (1997), "First Blood" (1982), "Cry of the Owl" (2009) and "Walking Tall" (2004). It's not great like the first two, not even close, but it's almost on par with "Cry of the Owl" and slightly superior to "Walking Tall." Yet it never cops an unrealistic tone like "Walking Tall" does with its overblown final act. It's a low-key slow burn focusing on life in the logging communities in the Great Northwest.

Speaking of which, one of the best thing about "Blackway" is the mysterious forest cinematography. There are also some small gems to mine, if you watch closely, like the fact that "man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward." Trouble just comes in different packages, as Hopkin's character laments before the showdown.

"Blackway" is essentially a Western taking place in the modern day, substituting pickup trucks and bikes for horses. The movie's simple and straight-forward, which turns some people off. But since 'twist' films are so commonplace now playing it straight almost comes off fresh. I shouldn't close without pointing out that Stiles has better womanly curves now that she's older; and looks great in tight jeans.

The film runs 91 minutes and was shot in British Columbia (Enderby, Vernon, West Kelowna, Lumby, Armstrong & Vancouver). It was directed by Daniel Alfredson from Castle Freeman Jr.'s novel.

GRADE: B-

'Go with Me' (aka 'Blackway') is a dismal waste-of-time, frittering away the talents of a decent cast on a routine revenge tale. Its story is as threadbare as an old dishrag, the direction dull, the dialog lifeless, the performances wooden and the cinematography colorless. Apart from a paycheck, it's hard to imagine what drew any of the participants to this mundane material, with no sign the actors and director were doing anything more than going through the motions.

The plot of this contemporary Western is pitifully weak. The villain is revealed as a would-be rapist and killer of domestic cats within the first five minutes, and the rest of the film depicts three misfits searching for this bully-boy crime baron among the local lumberjack community. There's minimal character development as the oddball posse pursues their prey around the overcast mountain landscape in a rusting pick-up. From time to time their inquiries result in tired scuffles, until the film eventually sputters up to a night-time showdown at the bad guy's forest hideaway. After the adversaries go through their ho-hum appointment with destiny, another dank day dawns.

I've seen this at least a few times now, I get this film once and a while from my library, it's really good.

I'm not saying that it's anything too special but it's quite good none the less. The title I found it under was called "Blackway" the name of the main villain that Ray Liotta plays in the film. I'm surprised that the title was changed from "Go with me" because I thought only the book it's based on was called that, plus I thought it went into production under the title "Logging" since the character Anthony Hopkins plays works at a logging yard.

About the story, it's your typical evil sheriff that has the whole town scared of him, that has his hands into everything illegal type, but I feel that it's done at least a little fresh in this. Also the three heroes of the film, Anthony, the kid who plays Nathan and Julia Styles character go after looking for Blackway, to his illegal businesses and finally to his home to kill him. The action scenes are minimal at best since this is a thriller, but the running time is short enough that the action is satisfying to watch.

It's a simple story really, the reason our heroes go after Blackway is they have crossed paths with him and he has ruined their lives to some existent, I won't go into spoilers because I feel you should experience it for yourself.

On to the acting, the acting is quite good here, Ray Liotta is a good villain as usual, lately he has been in some stupid films and TV shows but I'm at least glad to see him in something decent for a change. Julia Styles is good as well, and she plays Lillian, Blackway's latest victim. I haven't seen her in very much, I have just recently seen her in "Save the Last Dace" which wasn't too bad. Anthony Hopkins plays the lead character Lester, honestly he is always great in a lot of films he is in, including this one. This is basically the latest film I've seen him in, I have recently seen him in the latest "Transformers" film which was at least better than it's predecessor, but honestly I could care less for that franchise, in the best way. The kid who plays Nathan, I'm sorry I don't know him, but he was good. I think I've seen him in "The Final Girls" if it's who I'm thinking about, the movie was alright and his performance was OK.

Overall a decently made thriller that is quite re-watchable. I give it 6/10. Sure it's flawed but what movie isn't, check it out.

Review: This is an average thriller, which I found pretty boring in places, mainly because most of the movie is about 3 people trying to find the towns crime lord. Anthony Hopkins (Lester), plays an ex-cop, who decides to help Lillian (Julia Stiles) to track down Blackway (Ray Liotta), to put a stop to him stalking her. Lesters trusty sidekick, Nate (Alexander Ludwig) decides to help Lester and Lillian but they don't get a lot of help from there fellow town members, because they are all scared of Blackway. Personally, I didn't understand what was so scary about Blackway, because he just seemed like the town bully, who could have been easily been killed if they all pulled together. It basically took the determination of a young girl, and some straight forward investigating from Lester, to stop Blackway from causing anymore harm, which wasn't anything clever from the director but it was watchable. The showdown at the end was also a let down because I was expecting some major twist or a reason for Blackways brutal behaviour. Anyway, it's always good to see Hopkins on the big screen but this movie definitely wasn't his best and the storyline wasn't anything amazing. Average!

Round-Up: Anthony Hopkins isn't one to take on many projects, so my expectations for this film was quite high. By the end of the film, I was pretty disappointed with the outcome and after watching the trio spending an hour and a half trying to track down Blackway, it didn't seem much of a big deal by the end. Anyway, this movie was directed by Daniel Alfredson, 57, who also brought you Kidnapping Freddy Heineken, which was another disappointing movie from Hopkins, Echoes From The Dead, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest, The Girl Who Played With Fire and a couple of unheard of movies. His straight-laced directing style isn't the best in the world and I personally find his movies pretty boring. I just hope that Hopkins comes back with something decent, because his last two movies with this director, have been disappointing and after such a successful career, I just hope that he doesn't get remembered for his latest work. 

Budget: $8million Worldwide Gross: N/A

I recommend this movie to people who are into their thriller starring Julia Stiles, Anthony Hopkins, Alexander Ludwig, Ray Liotta, Lochlyn Munro and Hal Holbrook. 3/10

If you want to watch something as a drinking game, and you want to get really drunk...take a swig for every time they say "Blackway"... Apparently another review counted 66...and I was shocked, as only halfway through (when I gave up and stopped watching), it seemed like it had to be much more. Weak, lazy dialog and script with wholly unoriginal story. It's great if you want to exert zero attention and like the way the name Blackway sounds

Some movies get way better actors than the story seems to be deserving of. This is one of those cases. But it's nice seeing not only Hopkins but especially Liotta turning up the evil factor. There is so much gravitas in his performance you almost forget about things that happened and all the flaws that came before.

But as a thriller this barely is surprising enough (even with the time jumping to keep us on the edge of our seats), not to mention very bad and mean characters who don't seem to be willing to change. Even in the face of ... But yeah the hunt is on and if you don't set a high bar, you will be able to have a decent viewing of this.

I really enjoyed this one. Hopkins really knows how to play a soft spoken scary guy. Could sense he had the right stuff to handle the situation. Hopkins delivered. The film was very well paced and very engrossing. It seemed like it just began and the movie was ending. Where did the time go? So caught up with what was happening on screen that time no longer existed.

Don't understand why there have been so many negative reviews. Guess the lack of nudity makes the film too old fashioned. There were a few places the dialogue was weak but overall it was solid and well acted. The dark somber lighting added to the suspense.

I don't understand some people. Or perhaps I just don't like them. You know the ones. They are here to dictate and implore you not to watch 'the worst movie ever'. I mean really? Does anyone actually follow advice from these idiots.

Ok so this movie isn't the best ever but still I enjoyed it. Anthony Hopkins is always worth watching so right there is one reason not to listen to the 'galactically stupid'. More subjectively I felt a sense of unease watching the story unfold. Who is this Blackway character? Why does he instill such fear in locals and law enforcement alike? Why does the softly spoken Hopkins get involved and lead the search for Blackway with a woman he's just met? Unrealistic cry the dictators and detractors. Maybe so but who amongst us watches movies hoping for wall to wall realism or sit with notebook at the ready for analytical dissection of every scene? Don't we watch to escape or feel something about other people and their unusual stories? Movies that mirror everyday life ain't that appealing for the most part. The good guy/bad guy face off isn't reality for most. And just desserts neither. For us apple pie and ice cream are just desserts.

So ignore those who want to feed you tripe and make your own decision. Watch and feel or don't feel. Like or don't like.

This movie has an unusual feel to it. For me anyway. But I'm not you and neither is the guy shouting 'don't waste your time'. Don't listen to him.

What's wrong with this film? In a word, everything. One dimensional characters which make it impossible for the viewer to connect with or have sympathy for, an unrealistic plot, a director who absolutely dropped the ball, he is unable to create any suspense. Even a strong cast could not work with this weak material and lack of direction. It is clear that the actors could not figure out what the point was either. Other than seeing the BC scenery, this film has no redeeming qualities, it is a waste of your time, unless, like me, you laughed at how silly it was. Blackway is my choice for the rotten tomato award of the year, the past several years actually.

I gave it a four because of the cast. If they weren't in it I would have given it a one.

I found it when looking for movies with Julia Stiles and was excited to watch it. I had forgotten that Anthony Hopkins and Ray Liotta were co-starring, so when the credits came up my hopes went way up too.

The only positive thing I can say is that at least it wasn't a very long movie. However, I am now wishing for a time machine, not to profit, but to get back the 90 minutes I wasted of my life.

I truly don't understand how people of the Hopkins caliber take these roles. Are they that much in need of income? I also don't understand who agrees to product a film this bad. It truly amazes me.

Awful. Just awful.