Uno di noi

Let Him Go is a western-gothic crime thriller with a North Western setting and some resemblance to vintage oaters like The Searchers. The search has elemental film roots with mental and physical violence enhanced by Leslie Manville as a bad grandma and her wicked sons.

It's fun to see the bad guys get roughed up. It's also satisfying to see the searching-for-family motif of contemporary super-hero films played out in the Western plains even if it was filmed in Calgary. The craggy mountains and little towns complement the late fifties setting when love and crime occur in simple but stark ways.

Retired Montana Sheriff George (Kevin Costner) and his wife, Margaret (Diane Lane), search for their grandson, Jimmy (Bram Hornung and Otto Hornung) after the death of their son, James (Ryan Bruce). Former daughter in law Lorna (Kavli Carter) has left abruptly with new husband, Donny Weboy (Will Britain), and grandson, relocating under duress to North Dakota and his family- Weboy territory where matriarch Blanche (Manville) wields absolute power. Very bad move. The chase begins.

Lane and Costner are in top-aging form, tough and tenderhearted enough to fight the Weboy clan for the grandson. This is a different, more nuanced role for them when they were Superman's parents. Let Him Go adds an authenticity to the thriller formula by emphasizing the devotion of the loving couple to each other and their quest to keep the family whole, or at least provide a fitting family life for their grandson.

The usual Western tropes apply like the corrupt sheriff, bad grandma and sons, the kind stranger, the tough mother, and the epic ending battle. What goes beyond the formula is the sincere love propelling the plot and corralling our hearts. And, of course, the fully-seasoned Lane and Costner.

Let Him Go is much more than the genre it represents.

I didn't expect the story to be so dark and disturbing. It is probably too dark for me to enjoy, but it is still engaging.

Like many I'm a BIG Costner fan. This one could easily have been a rugged but amiable Western drama, but, like the moth flying close to the flame it gets tinged by inflexions of horror - a disquieting experience for the unwary. The plot has at its center the 'kidnap by marriage' of aged Margaret and George's grandson, goaded on by another interestingly psychotic family of near in-laws, resembling to no small degree the Snell Family of Netflix's 'Ozark', though this time featuring North Dakota as that bastion of redneck eccentricity. On the good side, it's a terrifyingly real situation, acted out charmingly by Kevin Costner with his trademark reserve. But the movie was a little long, with those now clichéd tropes, the sort that better directors do well to avoid.

This story is dark in many ways, but at the heart of it are two grieving grandparents (badass grandparents though) who want to save their toddler grandson from terrible criminals. Complex and thoughtful, it's the perfect mix of drama and suspense. Kevin Costner and Diane Lane are amazing. This is a finely drawn drama with high stakes tension.

Great casting, cinematography, sets and location, but novice writer and director Thomas Bezucha made this one a very unnecessarily slow burner. The 113 runtime was way too long for this story, and felt twice as long with the slow pacing, long dragged out scenes and unnecessary still shots. If you watched this at 1.2x speed, it'd be bearable. The screenplay needed a good 20-30 mins edited/cut out. The sound/score could've also been better. Not sure if it was Costner's character, or he was bored during filming, because this wasn't one of his finest performances - by a long shot. Never mind all the bogus 9's and 10's, this is an honest and very generous 6/10 from me.