The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
‘LET HIM GO’
Performances of Diane Lane, Kevin Costner not enough to save drama when things turn violent
Never envy the person trying to adapt a novel for the screen. ¶ Be too faithful to the book, and the film may feel bloated and possess an odd, unsatisfying rhythm to its storytelling. ¶ Contort the existing story so it boasts a more-traditional movie structure, and you run the risk of losing elements that made the book work. ¶ It’s impossible to know for sure without having read Larry Watson’s 2013 novel “Let Him Go,” but it sure feels as though writer-director Thomas Bezucha did the latter with his new theater-bound adaptation. ¶ “Let Him Go” is the rare two-hour film that, by the end, feels rushed. The slow pace Bezucha employs early on — allowing us to soak up the comfortable-as-worn-leather chemistry of stars Diane Lane and Kevin Costner — gives way to a haphazardly over-the-top and violent climactic stretch that feels like it belongs in some other flick. ¶ Ultimately, it feels like a square peg forced into a surprisingly bloody round hole.
Bezucha (“The Family Stone”) begins by setting an idyllic scene in the American West, specifically at the Montana ranch of George Blackledge (Costner), a retired sheriff, and wife Margaret (Lane), who has a talent for breaking wild horses. On a day in the early 1960s, we also meet adult son James (Ryan Bruce) — outside with Dad and a horse — his wife, Lorna (Kayli Carter), and their baby, Jimmy.
We pick up on a tiny bit of friction between Lorna and Margaret, whom we see subtly bully her way into some motherly duties. Other than that, however, things seem perfect at the Blackledge home.
Until, that is, James is thrown from a horse, breaks his neck and dies instantly.
Three years later, we see Margaret help George with his tie, the couple and not-quite-as-little Jimmy (Otto and Bram Hornung) about to witness Lorna marry again, this time to Donnie Weboy (Will Brittain of new Hulu series “A Teacher”).
We know little of Donnie, but we soon watch, along with the passing-by Margaret, as he lays hands on his new wife and young stepson.
Upset, Margaret soon goes to the couple’s apartment, only to learn they vanished in the night, apparently venturing off to live with the Weboy clan in North Dakota.
Furious and singularly focused, Margaret packs up for a trip to retrieve her grandson. When she catches George up on all that has transpired, it is clear to him his wife is going on this potentially dangerous quest with or without him, so he turns the water off in the home and they leave.
Before they get very far, he stops the car at their James’ gravesite, but Margaret declines to walk to it with him.
“You don’t know when you’ll be back,’ George says.
“I don’t need reminding,” she says. “I know what I lost.”
“Sometimes that’s all life is, Margaret; a list of what we’ve lost.”
During an early stop in a town, George tells his wife he doesn’t want a lecture about the small bottle of whiskey he’s just purchased, but he in turn — after placing the booze under the driver’s seat and discovering the handgun she’d hidden there — gives her one.
However, her instinct to bring the pistol feels right once they start running afoul of the Weboys, starting with one of Donnie’s brothers, the engaging-but-intimidating Bill (Jeffrey Donovan).
The real threat, though, is the clan’s matriarch,
Blanche (Lesley Manville), who lives with her other sons, now including Donnie, on the family’s highly secluded property. The Blackledges understand how tall their task is after spending only a little time with Blanche, who has strong feelings about how
Jimmy should be raised.
Convincing Lorna to give them Jimmy — or that she should come back to Montana with them, along with the boy — will be one thing.
Getting out of the Dakotas alive will be another.
The biggest reason “Let Him Go” works as well as it does for as long as it does is the acting of its two leads.
Costner, who in recent years has starred in “The Highwaymen” and popular series “Yellowstone,” is appropriately stoic while still showing real warmth as George.
L a ne (“Un f a it h f u l ,” “Paris Can Wait”), too, offers a multifaceted performance. While Margaret becomes obsessed with retrieving her grandson, she never loses sight of the love she has for her husband. Still, that she didn’t get to say goodbye to her son seems to drive her.
(At times, “Let Him Go” feels designed to appease folks who wished they’d gotten more of Costner and Lane as Jonathan and Martha Kent, the parents of the future Superman in 2013’s “Man of Steel.”)
Aside from them, “Burn Notice” star Donovan brings more to the table than he did in the recent Liam Neeson vehicle “Honest Thief.” He really helps to change the tone of the film halfway through the affair, even if that change isn’t for the better.
And although she’s very talented — and certainly not bad as Blanche — Manville (“Maleficent: Mistress of Evil,” “Phantom Thread”) suffers from her character being introduced too late in the proceedings to be convincingly more than onedimensional. Some time spent at the Weboy compound before the arrival of the Blackledges may have gone a long way.
Although he does some nice things — including creating some moments of true edge-of-your-seat suspense — Bezucha largely lets down this relatively strong cast with both his writing and direction.
As a result, it’s probably best to let “Let Him Go” go.