by Conan Simmons – July 4, 2021 – 6:20 am
1963, Montana. A retired sheriff and his wife, Kevin Costner and Diane Lane, take care of mundane chores around their rural home as their son and his wife and child stay with them. All is fine and well until, in an accident, the son falls off his horse and dies.
Cut to, Costner and Lane somberly getting dressed up not for a funeral but for their daughter-in-law’s wedding some years later. It’s a small, understated ceremony with not many attendees. The daughter-in-law naturally moves in with her new husband and now Costner and Lane mope around their own home not knowing what to do with themselves.
Then one day as Lane goes grocery shopping, she spots the newly-weds with her grandson walking along the sidewalk. Before she can honk or anything to make herself known she witnesses the new husband hitting both wife and child. Concerned, she decides to visit later on only to discover that they have moved back to the husband’s family home in North Dakota.
Lane takes it upon herself to undertake a bit of a quest managing to convince Costner to go along. Driving across the state in a 1958 Chevrolet wagon it isn’t long before Costner discovers Lane has concealed a loaded pistol under the drivers seat. She makes it clear that she wants to make sure her grandson is safe and was only taking the gun as a precaution.
As they cross the state line and get closer to their destination the people they talk to consistently become evasive as soon as they make it known what family they’re looking for. Ominous tension builds with nicely done atmosphere placing this film squarely in the western genre as Costner and Lane’s road trip feels like watching a couple of outlaws on their way to rob a bank, only here it’s two grandparents on their way to take back their grandson.
And that’s part of the problem.
It’s a bit hard to side with the main characters when their motive feels like it’s based on personal selfishness over any good intentions. As likeable as Costner and Lane are their characters seem a little underdeveloped. The main focus of Lane’s character is that she always has a hard time letting things go. As for Costner’s character he’s little more than the dutiful husband. It is interesting seeing these two paired up for this dark neo-western after they played Superman’s parents in Zack Snyder’s 2013 comic book adaptation ‘Man of Steel’.
Still, they are far more agreeable than the oddly cult-like family they face off with once reaching their destination. Lesley Manville plays the matriarch of the strangely intimidating clan and she is perfectly cast, an equally strong counterpoint to her role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘Phantom Thread’.
Directed by Thomas Bezucha, whose previously directed film was the 2011 Selena Gomez film ‘Monte Carlo’, and based on the 2013 novel by Larry Watson ‘Let Him Go’ is well made. It’s just very downbeat and increasingly unpleasant as the story progresses. Most of the unpleasantness stems from the abusive North Dakota family, so it’s not out of place with the story, but it’s also not counter weighted by any other characters except by the underused Native American loner, played by Booboo Stewart, who thankfully is not used for comedy relief but unfortunately seems only to be present for the story to make a social statement.
The best things about this movie, other than the cast, are the cool period cars that are showcased at several points in the film. Also, the locations look great as filming took place just outside of Calgary, Alberta.
Featuring Kayli Carter as the helpless daughter-in-law and Jeffrey Donovan as her abusive husband. ‘Let Him Go’ isn’t a bad film, it only feels less filling than it should be.