Lillian Warren (Julia Stiles) inherits her mother's house in Alaska and returns to the small logging town of her birth. She is stalked and harassed by Richard Blackway (Ray Liotta) who is badder than Leroy Brown as no one, including the sheriff (Dale Wilson) wants to help her. Their advice is for her to leave. She eventually gets the help of Les (Anthony Hopkins) who has lost a step since Hannibal, and has with Nathan (Alexander Ludwig) a strong stuttering half-wit.

The drama leads to a few confrontations, with the expected climax.

The stars did a good job for what amounts to a "B" film. Ray Liotta is not in the film for most of it.

"Blackway" and "Go With Me" are the same film.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

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.

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-