Reviews & Ratings for
I Saw the Light More at IMDbPro »

15 out of 19 people found the following review useful:

There is a reason this film was pulled from release

Author: vthomas-02523 from Austin, Texas
17 February 2016

I saw the movie last fall, just a few weeks prior to the original release date. I was happy with the choice of Tom Hiddleston as Hank Williams. He had the physical look to carry it off and I know he has the talent. I just wish I could say the same with the script.

This story seems to focus on his first marriage and that relationship. Out of everything Hank Williams did, this is what they focus on? Other than the music, they barely touched on everything that made him such a colorful character. It didn't help that there was little chemistry between two lead characters. Lifetime movies have better stories and chemistry.

Tom Hiddleston did a nice job with his singing but that isn't worth watching this movie. Hopefully, this will get buried and someone with more knowledge of Hank Williams can bring more deserving movie to the screen.

7 out of 7 people found the following review useful:

See ISTL for Tom Hiddleston's great performance and for Hank's eternal songs

Author: trez1 from United States
26 March 2016

It's a shame that some of this film's structural flaws will keep many from seeing one of the best on screen performances I've seen in years. Hiddleston's Hank Williams is a masterful creation: haunting, driven and soulful with the added bonus of Hiddleston doing his own singing and playing (no lip-syncing) including Hank's famous yodel.

While the film would have benefited with less marital squabbling and more music, it nonetheless takes one on an gripping journey of an American music icon's tragic life and short but amazing career.

Elizabeth Olson as Audrey, William's headstrong wife, does a fine job but I could have done with less of their relationship story and more about Hank's musical process. Cherry Jones is also excellent as Hank's bossy mom.

The stellar singing in the opening segment is worth the price of admission.

5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:

Hiddleston does Hank admirably--the movie no so much.

Author: jdesando from United States
25 March 2016

"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" or "Your Cheatin' Heart" might have been better titles for the Hank Williams biopic, "I Saw the Light." The story written and directed by Marc Abraham has too much emphasis on his lonely, cheating persona that led to divorce and broken hearts along the arc of this film's 1944 to 1953, when he died of too much drugs and alcohol. After seeing Amy, about Amy Winehouse, I'm waiting currently for a softer biography, say of Perry Como.

Anyway, Tom Hiddleston's turn as Williams is hypnotically spot on from tics and Southern drawl to hats and all the charm in between. Hiddleston is a good singer who seems to have captured Williams in a masterful interpretation of a manic depressive genius. That's my major concern with the story: I want more of the music, its creation and its challenges, and much less of the personal and domestic warfare, led by his wife, Audrey (Elizabeth Olsen).

Olsen's Southern accent is impressively accurate without being too twangy although her singing is not up to Huddleston's level of smoothness. Audrey was apparently a strong woman who interjected herself into the studio as well as the home. Although she isn't as memorable as June Carter Cash, she is a force in Williams' life. At a point I was sympathetic to her and her children, who were small players in Williams' life.

I guess if you really want to know Hank Williams, listen to his songs. If you want to see what Loki can do outside of science fiction, see him play Hank Williams in I Saw the Light.

From a big Hank fan...

Author: mizzouram from United States
1 April 2016

I'm only 25 years old, but I have almost all of Hank's music and have read multiple books in high school about him (including "Hank Williams: The Biography" by Colin Escott). So needless to say, I had high hopes for this movie.

I feel like my high hopes were mostly met. I thought the movie did a very good job of laying out Hank's life and showing his stardom as well as struggles. I didn't like as much that it was rated R vs a PG-13 for "Walk the Line", but then again, anyone who has studied Hank knows that his life was rough and he wasn't candy-coated by any means.

I think Tom Hiddleston does a very good job as Hank, though maybe not QUITE as spot on as I would've liked. But when a big movie comes out about probably my biggest musical artist of all-time, I won't complain. From what I've read, Mr. Hiddleston was basically trained to be as spot-on as possible, and when I saw the movie, he had me believing it was Hank. Elizabeth Olsen did a very good job as Audrey as well.

Overall, I quite enjoyed the movie and am anticipating any special edition releases when it comes out on DVD in a few months. Of course, there were moments of sadness especially toward the end, but there were also moments of happiness and (at least for me) a few chuckles. Although I wouldn't rank this as high as "Walk the Line" in my list of biopics, it was definitely worth the price of admission to me and I would totally see it again if given the opportunity.

Good Story

Author: steve beard (stevendbeard@aol.com) from United States
1 April 2016

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I saw "I Saw the Light", starring Tom Hiddleston-Loki in the Avengers movies, War Horse; Elizabeth Olsen-The Scarlet Witch in the Avengers movies, Bradley Whitford-Saving Mr. Banks, The Cabin in the Woods_2012 and Cherry Jones-24_tv, The Village.

This movie is about the short life of country-western singer/songwriter Hank Williams-he died at the age of 29. Before I go any further, I must confess, I am not a country music fan. I prefer rock, myself. So, I was not too fond of the music in this movie. It was good-Tom did his own singing, no lip-synching here-but it's just not my cup of tea. Having said that, the story was pretty good. Tom plays Hank Williams and Elizabeth is his wife-his first one anyway. Cherry plays Tom's mother and Bradley was the guy getting Tom his gigs-Tom's ultimate goal was to be on the Grand Ole Opry, which he did. I was familiar with the music- not a fan, but I was familiar with it-because my father used to play it when I was growing up. I was not familiar with the story, however. Tom actually ran a lot, to get his body into the thin shape and he does look a lot like Hank. Tom goes through alcohol and women like a hot knife thru butter. Problem was, it had an effect on his life. He had bad back problems-spinal bifidia-bad marriages and was a pill-popping alcoholic. He could write and sing though. If you are a country music fan, you will probably enjoy it even more than I did. It's rated "R" for language and sexual content-including nudity-and has a running time of 2 hours & 3 minutes. It's not one that I would buy but it would be a good rental.

I've Lost My Heart it Seems

Author: David Ferguson (fergusontx@gmail.com) from Dallas, Texas
31 March 2016

Greetings again from the darkness. Most Hollywood musical biopics follow a similar and predictable structure, which is why Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story was so easily able to parody the genre. Of course, the legendary singer/songwriter Hank Williams deserves more than predictable storytelling … but unfortunately, that's exactly what he gets here.

Tom Hiddleston delivers a spot on physical impersonation of Hank – right down to the slightly hunched over (due to Spina Bifida Occulta) posture and bouncy onstage waggle. Yes, the very British Tom Hiddleston, who plays Loki in The Avengers and Thor movies, has managed to capture the presence of one of the all-time great Country and Western icons. Mr. Hiddleston worked on the beloved songs with Rodney Crowell and delivers some very nice singing - so nice in fact that the singing is distracting and misleading. Hank Williams sang his songs in angst … a tortured soul seemingly without choice in his need to share his art. No one could be expected to perform with that emotion, and the void is obvious.

As source material, director Marc Abraham (Flash of Genius, 2008) utilizes "Hank Williams: The Biography" co-written by George Merritt, Colin Escott, and William MacEwen. It may be the least creative title possible for a biography, and the movie correlates perfectly. We track Hank's early days as a struggling singer whose dream is to someday perform on the hallowed stage of The Grand Ole Opry, to his gas station marriage to Audrey May (Elizabeth Olsen), through his alcoholism, drug use, womanizing, superstardom, fall from grace, and ultimately tragic death at the age of 29.

Despite the nature of Williams' short life, the film only skims the surface and rarely digs too deeply. The steady stream of women/wives is difficult to track … perhaps that's the point. Audrey is the only one who gets much screen time and Ms. Olsen plays her as an ambitious shrew who comes across as impossible to like and as unwilling to work at the relationship. A staggering number of Hank Williams songs are embedded as merely interludes separating scenes of misery for all involved … especially Hank, who seems to find little joy in life.

We've all seen the destruction that fame often leads to, and when combined with Hank's painful back disorder and relentless alcoholism, it's little wonder his body simply surrendered at such an early age. The movie just seems a bit too high-gloss for such a tortured soul, and despite the best efforts of Tom Hiddleston, the film is not worthy of someone who left the musical legacy of Hank Williams.

It was a great vehicle to prove what a great leading man Tom Hiddleston is

Author: subxerogravity from United States
31 March 2016

Chris Hemsworth may have gotten the lead in Thor but it was Mr. Hiddleston who became the movie star.

I don't know much about Hank Williams other than his name is legendary in country music, but I do know Hiddleston and I loved his performance in this movie. He was charming,charismatic and very different from a lot of things I've seen him it (quite possibly due to his weight loss for the part). I Saw the Light if anything, is a testimony of his skills.

Elisabeth Olsen was great in the film too in her supporting role as Hank's first wife. Olsen and Hiddleston show they were great together on screen.

The movie takes some getting use to as it's not your typical biopic. It takes a low tone on how the story is told and somehow is all over the place without being all over the place. It relies greatly on Hiddleston's personality to tell you the story of Hank Williams the the movie itself is not saying much of.

I saw that a few country music fans did not like the movie and what it says about Hank Williams, and I get that. If you are a fan of Tom Hiddleston however, it's not a bad watch.

2 out of 4 people found the following review useful:

It's more about Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olsen

Author: www.ramascreen.com from United States
23 March 2016

I SAW THE LIGHT is a performance-driven biopic. Tom Hiddleston transformed himself into the late great Hank Williams, and Elizabeth Olsen holds her ground, these two amazing talents burn the screen with such passion and ferocity. The film however is just textbook biopic, nothing that you haven't already seen before. It's well-intentioned but at the end of the day, Marc Abraham's adaption is uninspired.

I SAW THE LIGHT essentially is the story of the legendary country western singer Hank Williams, one all-time greats in American music. Starring Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olsen, I SAW THE LIGHT chronicles Hank's rise to fame which has tragic effect on his health and personal life.

Please keep in mind that I didn't grow up a fan of country music, I don't hate it, I appreciate it but I don't have huge country music encyclopedia to discern on whether or not Tom Hiddleston's performance as Hank Williams is accurate. Those of you who are fans of country and specifically fans of Hank Williams can make that comparison and can better judge Hiddleston in terms of his singing skills, if he talks and walks like Hank, so on and so forth. But when I said earlier that Hiddleston transformed is that you really don't see Hiddleston up there on the screen, at least I didn't. And for an outsider, a British to embody; to capture the essence of one of this country's legends, that's something that warrants some degree of respect. Part of what makes I SAW THE LIGHT interesting is the tumultuous and sometimes hostile relationship between Hank (Tom Hiddleston) and Audrey Williams (Elizabeth Olsen). When you have two people, each of whom thinks that they should be the bigger star, when two egos collide, it makes for a compelling drama.

The story however is not well-structured, it constantly cuts way too quickly from one scene to the next, it comes across as impatient. And although it's not a from the cradle to the grave type biopic, it focuses only on a few years of Hank's life till his downfall, I SAW THE LIGHT is really nothing new, we've seen this before. Superstars drinking, doing drugs, cheating on their spouses, we've seen what fame does to characters on screen. We've seen "Walk The Line" and others like it, and so I SAW THE LIGHT is more about Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olsen, that's the big draw, the main attraction.

7 out of 59 people found the following review useful:

This movie is testing every "country music" fans fortitude!

Author: carter-drewj from Canada
1 February 2016

This Movie was supposed to be released almost a year ago! Every time fans get excited that it "might" be released.. a frenzy happens.

There has never been an "honest" Movie made about Hank and his life.

This biopic is meant to test our souls! How many festivals can the movie show at ( with people who have spent $1,000's for tickets) till the "people" who Hank wrote His music for get to see it?

Hank thought .. film festivals where Bullshit! Hank just wanted to perform! And here We have the first "possibly real" Movie about Hank! (No-one except the "filthy rich" have ever seen this film!

Can they in all "honesty" tell Us that "Hank would have wanted it this way?"

Hank fought Country Music's Management so many times, and here We have a "Hank Film" that has been shown to all the world's rich!

Hank came from Monroe Alabama from the poorest part, and fought his way out with His Music, it's illustrative that this film starts off by only being able to be seen by "Rich People" .. If Hank isn't rollin' over in His grave: The creek won't rise and it don't matter a damn!

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