Let Him Go (2020) Review

RATING: 5/10

DESPITE suffering from poor advertising and an even worse release date, Thomas Bezucha's latest family thriller manages to tell an interesting and cohesive story...for most of it.

Margaret (Lane) and George Blackledge (Costner) continue to mourn the death of their son after an accidental fall whilst horse-riding. In order to find clarity the husband and wife set out on a search for their grandson, who is in care of their daughter-in-law Lorna (Carter).

But when the Blackledges discover Lorna and her young son are trapped in an abusive relationship with their new husband and father, respectively, the two aim to bring their grandson back home.

Let Him Go was an interesting watch. While the film has plenty of positive qualities, the payoff was not worth the agonising pacing that made the 2-hour experience feel like an eternity.

I believe the most important part of a film is the opening. If the opening sequence fails to grab audience's attention, it fails to create an emotional connection with the characters and their arcs.

While Let Him Go did manage to create an connection between myself and the Blackledges, this connection was only created during the third act because the opening act was sluggishly slow and featured scenes that, while interesting, left little impact on the story as a whole.

Without factoring in the terrible pacing, the narrative felt lacking as I felt dissatisfied with the end result, which to its credit, was the highlight of the movie thanks to its enthralling intensity and eerie atmosphere.

Academy award-nominated actress Diane Lane is easily the stand-out in Let Him Go, beautifully expressing the emotions such as grief and vengeance throughout. Kevin Costner is also hitched along for the ride who delivers a standard Kevin Costner performance being rugged and retired.

Let Him Go isn't a bad movie by any means, but there isn't enough good in it to justify making it a must-watch for casual, or even diehard, movie-goers.

Viewers may feel somewhat satisfied with the conclusion, but Let Him Go leaves them unaffected and leaves no everlasting impact.