Go With Me concerns Lillian (Julia Stiles), a young woman who has moved back to her backwater hometown in the Pacific Northwest after a stint in Seattle. Unfortunately, she becomes the target of local crime kingpin Blackway (Ray Liotta). When she goes to local authorities after finding her cat dead, she is told that her best option is just to leave town. She instead seeks help from local lumbermen, and she enlists the aid of the elderly ex-logger Lester (Anthony Hopkins) and his younger friend Nate (Alexander Ludwig). The trio goes up against tremendous odds as they attempt to hunt down the untouchable Blackway.
The movie is constructed in a pretty puzzling way. It has these strange detours into unnecessary narrative threads. The main character, for example, doesn't actually expect to get help from Lester and Nate. She goes to the logger camp looking for a man named Scotty. Scotty isn't there when she arrives, but shows up in a later scene. The scene suggests that this Scotty might have some unfinished business with Blackway and that he might figure into things later on. But this turns out to be a narrative dead end, a red herring of a thread that doesn't add anything of value to the overall plot.
Later on, as the film heads into its climax, it takes a complete break from the action for a lengthy flashback that details Lillian's first encounter with Blackway. It certainly fills in some details about what kind of man Blackway is, and what he has against the protagonist, but at this point in the movie, it only robs the film of what little momentum it has. These scenes only reinforce what has already been implied in the exploration of the character's illegal activities. It actually makes Blackway less of a compelling figure, the criminal much more interesting as a creature left mainly in the shadows.
All this adds up to a pretty tepid little thriller. It is slow and ponderous, and generally lacking in any sort of flavor. It is a very simple story that ends up feeling aimless, the characters just bungling through this town with few concrete intentions, their progress through the plot mainly coming through contrivances. And it hardly ever feels like they're in any real danger. The characters keep telling us how dangerous Blackway is, but offers little visual or narrative evidence. The movie is unable to convey the oppression that this town is supposed to be feeling.
The laconic direction takes the lion's share of the blame. It all feels a little too relaxed. Even the big confrontations lack energy and tension. There isn't much energy in the performances, either. This movie features a rare subdued turn from notorious ham, Anthony Hopkins. It is an odd choice for the actor, who is also listed as a producer. This is a film that could have actually used an outsized performance from Hopkins, but he disappoints in every scene. Julia Stiles and Alexander Ludwig take his cue and end up moping through their roles.
Go With Me never becomes the gripping thriller it's clearly meant to be. The ingredients are all laid out for a pulpy crime story: a ragtag group of outsiders, a small town in the middle of nowhere, cold weather, and a seemingly untouchable villain. But this movie seems to make all the wrong choices. It seems to be actively avoiding tension and momentum, qualities that tend to give these kinds of stories their appeal. It is entirely too subdued as if all the people involved mistook this story for something else entirely.
My Rating:
