Review of “Blackway”

* * C

A waitress, Lillian (Julie Stiles), is harassed by the town bad guy, Blackway (Ray “Goodfella” Liotta) and, when she complains to the sheriff, is told there’s nothing he can do and that she should leave town. When she refuses, he suggests he seeks help from a mill worker. The man he suggests is unwilling to tangle with Blackway, but an older man, Lester (Anthony “Hannibal” Hopkins), decides to help her, and brings a long a young coworker, Nate (Alexander Ludwig). The three of them go up against Blackway and his henchmen.

The film is set in a fictional logging town in Oregon (actually Enderby, BC). The remote location and the fact that the sheriff is unwilling to help mean that the three protagonists are isolated and the odds are against them. The pacing is deliberate, the setting moody. As tension builds, you learn the back stories of Lillian and Lester. The characters are solid, the climax satisfactory.

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