By Tom and Marilyn Jozwik
HE: The best part of director Thomas Bezucha’s R-rated “Let Him Go” is the musical score by Michael Giacchino, particularly sweet as it accompanies the closing credits. The cinematography, conveying at once the beauty and vastness of the Dakota plains (except, of course, when the screen is damnably dark), would be the second-best feature. Considerably less interesting are the far-fetched storyline and the violence (albeit not quite sickeningly sanguine) that highlights it. “Let Him Go” is an example of a motion picture where you frankly do not want to identify with the two main characters, portrayed by Diane Lane and Kevin Costner. They may be selfless individuals, but they are recklessly so—to a point that goes well beyond stupidity (and credulity). As for their antagonists … could there be a more evil grouping this side of hell?
Grade: C
SHE: This movie reminds me of a car commercial that includes the line: “When you’re in a horror movie, you make bad decisions.” As I’m watching the crime thriller “Let Him Go,” the story of Montana rancher couple George and Margaret Blackledge (Lane and Costner) who set off into the Dakotas to find and bring back their grandson, I could apply the same line. In the movie, the Blackledges’ son dies in an accident, leaving behind a wife, Lorna (Kayli Carter), and young son. Lorna remarries in what appears to be a simple and hastily arranged ceremony and soon splits, unannounced, from town, sending George and Margaret on their search, which leads them to foreboding country and sketchy characters. Lane and Costner convey their desperation in the situation with solid performances, but the real star is Lesley Manville, who is deliciously wicked as Blanche Weboy, the mother of three contemptible sons. Manville exudes a Betty Davis vibe, her words dripping with a smug dominance as the manipulative matriarch. While Lane and Costner blandly trudge along through the movie, Manville, unfortunately, has too little to do. The movie, however, did hold my interest with a sort of “Deliverance” ambience.
Grade: B-