The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

My summary of the plot (see below) should tell you everything you need to know about whether you should waste a couple hours watching this film.Lilian comes back to the small town she grew up in. For some reason she is being harassed by BLACKWAY (dun-dun-duuuuuunnnnnn!). Blackway breaks her car window (gasp!) and kills her cat. Why? We don't know until nearly the end of the movie.Lilian goes to the Sheriff for help. He refuses to do anything because it's BLACKWAY (dun-dun-duuuuuunnnnnn!), and suggests she go to a sawmill and ask for some guy to help. Wait, what? Okay, let's go with it...The guy isn't there, but some old guy (Hopkins) offers to help, and drags along his somewhat slow co-worker.The next hour and a half are spent looking for BLACKWAY (dun-dun-duuuuuunnnnnn!).They go to an old logging site that he supposedly frequents in order to "draw him out," then they kill him.THE END (oh, thank God)

I found the movie to have an interesting story line and a guessing game throughout. The worst part about this movie for me was the ending. The acting by Ray Liotta and Anthony Hopkins was antiquate but nothing to rave about. Both actors have had much better performances than what they showed in Blackway.I found the main character of this movie to be extremely unrelateable and didn't really have any redeeming qualities what so ever. Lillian (Julia Stiles) had nothing to like about her and was an extremely weak character in the movie. As a main character, Lillian was a very weak role in this movie. The character of Blackway I felt was very unrealistic and his " evilness " was nothing more than just a cop turned bad and now is into drugs and prostitution. His crimes had no purpose, he would grope and tie up women for absolute no reason and this theme appeared to be a big deal in the movie. The whole character of Blackway was weird and disturbing but the way he was portrayed was fucking stupid. The ending is the part that really got me. Throughout the movie, you see the progression of the hunt for Blackway. The ending of the movie is god awful and extremely bland. A four year old could've predicted the ending based off the first 20 minutes of the movie. They could have done so many things with the ending but they picked the most cliche and boring way to go. It ended with Blackway getting shot by Anthony Hopkins character and that's it. It ends like every other revenge move there is. At first I thought this movie had more potential than that but I was very wrong.I would recommend this movie to people who enjoy thrillers and mysteries. This movie is not hard to forget out at all but if you ignore the flaws in the script and the try hard motifs then this movie is for you. Overall its a good way to waste 1hr and a half with a mediocre movie.

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.

There is an aura of intrigue in the location shooting that captivated me. I live In a small mountain town with it's share of tragedy and moody fogginess. Hopkins is as elegant as ever, and a delight to behold, but the story itself could use more depth. I actually thought it was filmed near my present home until read it was set in Vancouver..the atmosphere, music and photography kept me in a certain spell despite the uneven script. Unusual. Very down-to-earth dialogue and setting.