Let Him Go

There's some actors who's names you only have to hear and you think of a certain genre. Christopher Lee will always bring horror movies to mind for example. Sigourney Weaver is to science fiction as The Stath is to action. Westerns would have once meant Clint Eastwood but he stepped away from them 29 years ago. Nowadays only one actor is still flying the flag for the genre that started cinema. Good ol' Kevin Costner and now he's back in the saddle again, this time in a modern day one. Well kinda modern.

The Blackledges live a quiet but happy life on their ranch in Montana. George (Kevin Costner), an ex-sheriff and Margaret, (Diane Lane) a horse trainer who lost the taste for her work, their son James (Ryan Bruce), his wife Lorna (Kayli Carter)and their new son Jimmy (Bram Hornung). Tragedy strikes when James dies in a riding accident and again years later when Lorna remarries Donnie Weboy (Will Brittain) taking Jimmy away from his loving grandmother. Without notice the new family move back to the Weboy homestead and it's the start of a journey for the Blackledges that culminates in an encounter with the Weboy Matriarch Blanche (Lesley Manville), a rather formidable figure.

Oh yeah, that's the stuff. A good, old fashioned, no nonsense, mature drama of the type that's been absent lately. Let Him Go isn't what you'd call an enjoyable watch but it's a very satisfying one and it's all down to that central pairing of Costner and Lane, back onscreen again as a married couple 7 years after raising Clark Kent in Man Of Steel. You've got to love seeing two actors with 80 years of onscreen experience between them at work and the couple they create is absolutely believable. The looks, the silences, the nods, both knowing what the other is thinking or what they'll do next. Eschewing speeches and monologues when a couple of words will do instead. Emotions kept in check and when they do erupt it feels like a punch in the gut. You can feel the love and respect between them and it's a great relationship to build a story around. 

It's a story that's sketched deftly and economically peppered with fleeting and affecting emotional beats  (although one does telegraph the ending massively), one that takes its time letting us get to know the Blackledges before all hell breaks loose in a motel face off that culminates in a vicious act of violence. An act that lets us know what's coming next is going to be bloody. It's early in the film when things start feeling ominous. An encounter with a young Native American man (Booboo Stewart) who lives in the middle of nowhere and yet knows what the Weboys are capable of. Then a drive into a different county and a new radio station cutting in, a broadcast sermon laced with fire and brimstone.  No nonsense George turns it off fast but we've heard enough to know they're heading into the bible belt badlands and here the tension starts to build until it spills over in a gush of screams, flames and blood.

This is streaming on google movies at the moment and there's no mention of when it will or if it will get an Irish cinema release. It's a pity because it deserves to be seen on the big screen. Those wide prairie vistas, lovely views of big sky country and a full on widescreen 2.35:1 turn from Lesley Manville as the mother from hell. She's a piece of work, chewing through her dialogue and pinning people to the chair with her stare. Costner might be the big star but it's the women who own this one. Three mothers, one righteous, one vile, one caught in the middle. It's always nice to see a western where the women don't take a passive role and it's even better when they're fiery and furious. Btw, it might be set in the 60's but this is most definitely a western. And a really good one at that.

Let Him Go is out now online. It's definitely worth your time.