Blackway
A young woman newly returned to her hometown becomes the subject of harassment by a man named Blackway, an ex-cop turned violent crime lord who operates with impunity in this small community on the edge of the wilderness. Forsaken by the local townspeople—and advised by the Sheriff to leave town—Lillian decides instead to take a stand against her sociopathic stalker, and enlists the help of ex-logger Lester and his laconic young sidekick.
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- Cast:
- Anthony Hopkins , Julia Stiles , Alexander Ludwig , Ray Liotta , Steve Bacic , Lochlyn Munro , Hal Holbrook
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Reviews
Please don't spend money on this.
Perfect cast and a good story
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.
My sister told me she'd run across thing scrolling through Netflix. I watched it first, so at least one of us was spared.It's beyond me how such a piece of hot garbage has this stellar of a cast. I was optimistic just based on the cast list and had to read over other reviews after watching it because I was sure I'd missed something. Nope.Girl is being harassed by a guy who saw her where she waitresses. She turns him down, so he stalks her, like you do. Also decapitates her cat (why?). Two complete strangers join her to track him down (why?), and he's apparently ex law enforcement who just decided he'd rather be in the drug/sex trafficking trade (again...why?). They find him. They kill him. The end.The story line is so straightforward that it ends up being boring and predictable. Throw zero character development and a complete lack of onscreen chemistry between the actors into the mix, and this is easily the worst film I've seen in recent memory.
This is an excellent cast working with a slightly subpar script. All of the performances are solid. Ray Liotta is always bankable as a villain. He brings an intense edginess to bad guy roles that few actors can match. Hopkins feels a bit miscast (not the guy you expect to be working at a lumber mill), but still turns in a respectable performance. There's good chemistry between Styles and Ludwig that adds extra dimension to a script that needs it. Good cinematography, particularly outdoors. The movie uses flashbacks to fill in plot holes, and it works for the relationship between Liotta and Hopkins characters. I think the movie would have worked better if they didn't use flashbacks for the Liotta/Styles relationship; it was too recent and too important in the plot context. The flashbacks make Liotta seem more sinister and unpredictable, but the movie needed a bit more length in constructing the plot. Could have also used a bit more background for Wizard and Scotty characters. Not quite enough character development overall, and the movie felt a bit flat in that regard. Worth watching if you go in with reasonable expectations.
An old man without a plan, a young woman without a plan, and a young man without a plan go into the woods unjustifiably confident of meting out justice to a psychopathic maniac. It's a formula movie that for some reason does not stick to the formula. We all recognize the set up (innocent woman terrorized), we all know what is coming (this one's got gumption and fights back) and we're all rooting for the payoff (cocky bad guy gets humbled) but in this movie, the payoff is so low key as to be almost non-existent. There's lots of driving in trucks through the woods, lots of old men telling tales about bad things that happened long ago and a lot of Anthony Hopkins standing around looking morose. Other than that, not much. It ends abruptly, and seriously looks like they cut the final 10 minutes from the story. A disappointing script for all involved, especially Hopkins and Liota. Their talents are not apparent here at all.
This was an interesting little movie. The actors were top notch. It's always nice to see Hopkins, and it was really swell to see Holbrook in what, most likely, is one of his last films. The movie, itself, had issues. It was very formulaic and predictable, but I was okay with that. There are so many movies that are formulaic and predicable, which many consider to be the best of all time. For instance, I don't think for one moment anyone has a doubt that Dorothy will make it back home by the end of Wizard of Oz.I could go on. I've learned over the years to just sit back, relax, and let movies wash over you--especially movies like Blackway that have nothing short of outstanding production values. In particular, the cinematography was just phenomenal. This wasn't a movie made on a soundstage. Overall, I enjoyed this movie. Again, it wasn't fantastic, and it didn't blow my mind. It was, however, a slickly-made outing with fantastic actors and great scenery. Ray Liotta was creepy, as well.