Go North (2017) User Reviews

Not worth your time

[darcek · 3/10 · 13 January 2017]

I tried to see this film because of the idea of a post apocalyptic surrounding and Jacob Lofland, whom I saw in a few decent films before.

He didn't let down,thou that didn't help the film.

This felt like a high school production. Very amateur directing,like you see ,there's a struggle to create atmosphere with a few props and shots of abandonment buildings'splatters of blood etc..

Its like a part zombie film,but without the zombies,part psychological social thriller,failing to actual convey some message or thrill.

The acting was OK i guess,but was leading to nowhere,with some good acting leading me to watch further on,only to be letdown constantly by the bad directing and story line.

There's one part where the lead actor, is been pursued by a gang,he hides in a Library,and out of all the buildings in the city the gang decided to go into the Library... its like they forced confrontations so something might happen instead of wisely arranging them to happen.

Do not 'Go North'.

[bryank-04844 · 3/10 · 23 January 2017]

Documentary filmmaker Matt Ogens brings his narrative screenplay to life with 'Go North', which is a post-apocalyptic story with kids. Of course, we've seen this genre and story play out time and time again over the past several years with tons of young adult movies that involve kids in a ravaged post apocalyptic scenario. These films all run together, because they are in fact all the same movie with different titles and character names. 'Go North' breaks the mold in one certain aspect, in that it doesn't take place in a largely dilapidated big city scape in the future with hundreds of millions of dollars going to dumb CGI effects or any big over-the-top action sequences that may involve monsters, robots, zombies, or any combination of the three. Instead, this is a fairly low budget film with none of the above, which is a breath of fresh air in this over-saturated genre.

The film follows a kid named Josh (Jacob Lofland or Neckbone from 'Mud'), who is a quiet kid living in a suburb of Detroit with a group of other young kids. Due to unknown reasons, something happened that left the people over the age of their early 20s die off, leaving only the young kids to fend for themselves in a modern 'Lord of the Flies' type of manner. It would have been nice to have and ounce of depth and meaning in 'Go North' like 'Lord of the Flies' had, but it just isn't there, which is the film's downfall. In addition to lacking any real sense of dread or meaning, 'Go North' can't seem to find out who its audience really is. If it's for the young adult crowd, they will be met with a large amount of vulgarities that seem to be fit into every second of the script.

If it's for the older crowd, there doesn't seem to be anything of value here other that Josh and his new friend Jessie (Sophie Kennedy Clark), leave their group of kids who are run by the former High School jocks who still wear their letter jackets, and who have forced the smaller kids to do manual labor, or else they will be sent to "walk the line". I literally just laughed out loud, typing that, but that's what we're dealing with here. There isn't really any substance here for those of us looking for more. We see these kids live in what looks like houses that have been unkempt and dilapidated for years, but in several of Josh's flashbacks with his parents dealing with the "apocalypse scenario" that wiped out all the adults, Josh is the same age, and only looked to have happened only a month or so prior. These are the little things in 'Go North' that make you go Hmmmm.

That and the fact that the only real fear in the film is that of wild hungry pet dogs eating you. There is clear talent in this film with some of the performances, specifically with Lofland, and Ogens has a good eye that captures the beauty in the most unlikely of places here, but the story and dialogue itself goes nowhere and leaves no real conflict or suspense throughout the film, leaving 'Go North' rather forgettable.

SKIP IT!

Weak Storyline brings the whole thing down

[ascendant01 · 5/10 · 9 February 2017]

I thought the story in this movie could use a great deal more fleshing out, however having said that I did find the movie interesting. The main character, played by Jacob Lofland, pretty much carries the movie along with some help from James Bloor, Patrick Schwarzenegger, and Sophie Kennedy Clark. The description given to the movie is a bit off in that this is about an apparent plague that strikes suddenly and kills off almost all adults. The teens and children are left to fend for themselves and attempt to form a civilization but it is very apparently woefully wanting. Discipline is harsh for the younger kids who are forced to go to school and provide labor. One teen, the Lofland character realizes there simply will not be enough food for all the kids in what he calculates will be an early and harsh winter so he plans on going north where he has heard there may be survivors and he takes the girl he is attracted to along. The older sports team boys who handle discipline go after them and there is a culmination on a bridge in the end. The story is just too weak to carry the movie effectively, even with the actors I named doing a pretty good job on their end. The movie must have had a very low budget or they would have had a better story line and script as well as props. There are just so many serious flaws in the story though that it drops the whole show. No guns (or just one unloaded one) in an American town? And going north appears more like just going north across the tracks. The acting was good but the story was not. I gave it a 5 because the actors did a good job trying to make it work

There is no before

[nogodnomasters · 2/10 · 23 August 2020]

After the incident, there are no adults and testosterone teens run the town. Josh (Jacob Lofland), being bullied takes off and goes north with a girl (Sophie Kennedy Clark). He is pursued by her brother and a company of jocks.

I couldn't get my mind around the timeline. Josh has memories of the past where he looks about the same age. The buildings look like decades if no a century of decay. Food is scarce and in old cans. Kitchen knives are rusted. Cigarettes look fresh and they drink beer, so how old can it be? A vehicle still runs.

The early word was to go north. If everything was fine up north wouldn't someone come back for their kids? The film must have been done for thematic reasons. Religion is outlawed. The society was not well developed as in "Lord of the Flies" so I fail to see the comparison.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

Don't bother watching this movie at all

[nicolbolasftw · 1/10 · 30 January 2017]

For a movie that looked like it had hopeful potential, the first five minutes into the movie were completely crushed when the teacher came in and delivered his lines. There was no passion, nothing that the cast could go off of. His smug demeanor was unbearably it reminded me of a classmate of mine in high school.I mean come on he looks like sixteen- year-old hipster how is this supposed to be a teacher poor casting choices. After that scene, I lost any will to continue watching. The movie plot is basically a zombie apocalypse, without the zombies, and without any backstory whatsoever. I feel betrayed and let me down. learn how to recruit better extras who know to act their lines. For shame Hollywood, for shame.

Disappointing plot

[wrxsti54 · 5/10 · 6 February 2021]

I watched this movie solely to see Jacob Lofland as he did such a superb job as Neckbone in Mud. 5 years on he plays a laconic high school boy clearly orphaned with a group of teen survivors living in a dystopian post apocalypse world.

The plot is weak bordering on incoherent as it's unclear quite what happens to his parents in fact all adults. Lofland does a halfway decent job with such awful raw material. The movie could've given some sense of coherence or completion with the final scene but it cuts off inconclusively sealing the sour taste you get through much of the movie.

If there is nothing else on tv, then watch, maybe.

[chipsdipsanddorks · 2/10 · 11 February 2021]

After some sort of event, only young people are left. Basically, this city has 20 remaining kids and they are run by the jocks of the school. Luckily gasoline still runs cars and batteries for flashlights still work. The town is completely over grown with weeds/trees, but abandoned pools only have a few leaves floating on top, but clearly algae-free and good for bathing. Nothing makes sense.

Because it was sooo boring and horribly written, I broke it down into 5 nights of boredom around 1am. The only good part was instead of using a Glock like every other movie, they used a S&W M&P pistol (good to see Smith back).

Hopefully Arnold Schwarzenegger's son (the head jock) will not ruin his career by working with this writer/director again.

Excellent job!

[mmarianne · 6/10 · 13 January 2017]

I just bumped in to this movie,and had never heard of it and therefor I had no expectations.

I always like me a good post-apocalyptic story though, so I felt lucky. :)

So, the story is simple. There has been some sort of catastrophe and a group of kids are trying to hold it together with a series of very rigid rules. They keep the school going but it's no longer normal lessons, but instead the older kids teach the younger kids on how to survive. Like trapping, getting water etc. The old kids decide everything, from who works on what (they all have to work for their existence, no matter how young or little you are) They also have the right to punish by for example let the kid be expelled from the community and into a dark and scary place which is everywhere apart from their own residential area.

The story revolves around Josh, played really well by Jacob Lofland. He is a skinny and scrawny young boy, maybe around 16. He is a thinker and he is a quiet person, that see things around him clearly. For a while he plans his escape from the totalitarian group. When his (only?) friend get expelled he feel it is the time to split. But before this, and for a long time, he has been mapping out the way north, because he believes that there is some sort of a rescue area there. North is his end-goal and this is set in stone. Because he protects the leaders sister, Jessie, from another leader, he get her to come along too as she need to get away as not to be punished. When leaders find out that Jessie and Josh are gone, they go nuts and try to capture them and bring the sister back.

I was sat through the movie thinking about whom Jessie looks like and now it's taken me half an hour coming up with her name. It's Cameron Diaz! :) Mystery solved.

As someone else pointed out, there were a lot of extremely bad story- lines as when it comes to coincidences and chance. (when the leaders chase after the escapees, and find their whereabouts immediately in a huge city. Of course they must be in the library!) But that's movie- making for you.

I think that the film was on the cheap-side for sure, but that didn't stop it from being a good way to spend an evening. I would had liked more on the catastrophe and the story on how the group became the group. It's a lot to explore in this world and one can only hope that someone will be clever enough to make another movie from someone else's perspective! Now that would make me happy! :)

All in all, a good post-apocalyptic flick without fainting of excitement.

Great Movie!

[jimmyfashion · 6/10 · 28 October 2017]

To be honest, I strongly disagree with IMDb, or whoever rated this movie. It seems quite creative. It's a nice adventure movie, different from others but still dynamic. IMDb should re-consider their choice in my opinion. A PG 13+ recommended movie. I would love to have a second and see how they continue the story line.