Let Him Go (2020)

Let Him Go (2020)

6/10

Starring

Diane Lane

Kevin Costner

Lesley Manville

Directed by Thomas Bezucha

Let Him Go is a tragedy movie which does not spare any souls. This western drama has a captivating start then it dives into a very long take on what the struggles of trying to save someone from an abusive relationship. The struggle can be felt as important, but the movies portrayal of it is very dull. The movie’s ending is very surprising even though at the back of my mind it felt like the only path possible the movie could take.

The movie is based on a western drama novel written in 2013 by Larry Watson.

Set in the 1960s the movie’s uplift starts with the intro of the Blackledge family, which include Grandpa and Grandma George (Kevin Costner) and Margaret (Diane Lane). Their son James and his wife Lorna with their son named Jimmy.

In a matter of minutes we are taking through the death of James, Lorna becoming a widow and three years after she marries a man named Donnie Weboy. George and Margaret do not like Donnie, but Lorna has to make her own decisions. Soon we along with Margaret witness Donnie abuse Jimmy and Lorna on the street. Margaret feeling she must do something tried to go visit them only to discover they have left town without leaving a word behind where they left.

So, getting George to come along Margaret and her husband go hunting for Donnie and their grandson, using George’s contact as a retired sheriff to help guide them.

It is from here the movie drops to a slow uneven pace. The whole excitement which is set from the beginning as it seems Margaret was not going to let Donnie get away easily with being a jackass, was swamped by this unnecessary need to make the Weboy family all be bunch of jackasses. Maybe that rest on the books author or the screenplay adapter, but it was a bore. Then they meet a young man who is trying to be off the radar and just survive without making a splash. Even that encounter was dragged longer than needed.

The movie then takes a turn when we meet the Weboy family which the movie does not fail in the paining of them as people who struggle to know right from wrong. They were like a clan which needed to be fully whipped out to kill the ideology.

The movie’s end was sad and for me even though I give this movie a six out of ten, I do feel it is best you watch it with a remote at hand, so you can skip over the boring bits. The sad thing is, the boring bits fit in all over the midpoint of this movie.