Intensity: 🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Directed by Alexandre Aja
Brimming with inventive promise, Never Let Go is a movie of half-moves that never resolves its post-apocalyptic and psychological horror concepts. Halle Berry tries her best, but it becomes a frustrating endeavor by its conclusion.
The central concept, as depicted in the trailer, was intriguing. A small family reduced to living a hunter-gatherer existence in a post-apocalyptic world, hiding in the woods in a remote cabin. Momma (Halle Berry) keeps a tight leash on her boys. Literally, the family has thick hemp ropes that tether them to their large cabin in the woods.
With a powerhouse combination of A-lister Halle Berry and horror auteur Alexandre Aja, and written with some original concepts, this movie brimmed with potential.
The Cast of Never Let Go:
- Halle Berry plays Jo (Momma), a woman traumatized by the loss of her husband and parents who is living an end-of-days existence with her children in the remote cabin where she was raised.
- Percy Daggs IV plays Nolan, the younger and more impetuous of the boys. He is more curious than his brother and is willing to question the events and conditions around him.
- Anthony B. Jenkins plays Samuel, the older son. Samuel is loyal and trusting. He has an undying faith in Momma, and obeys her instructions.
One Touch, without the rope on, and not even the house can save you.”
Momma to her boys in Never Let Go
A Short Summary of Never Let Go
Momma and her two boys have managed to eke out a life as hunters and gatherers in the woods near Momma’s inherited cabin. A mysterious presence, which Momma refers to as “The Evil,” has claimed the lives of her parents and her husband, leaving Nolan and Samuel on their own. She believes that the house is protecting them from The Evil, and that they need to respect and honor the home. The house has an elaborate rope and pulley system that tethers the family to the house with thick hemp ropes. There is a long lead on the ropes, allowing them to forage for whatever they can find in the woods.
It is a damp winter following an unproductive harvest from their garden, and their stores are running low. The family is disconnected from civilization, and it is unclear if civilization exists beyond the woods. The family has been reduced to eating tree bark (which is more palatable with sap) and pine needles. An “accident” in the woods forces Nolan to cut himself loose from the tether to rescue Samuel. Momma is not sympathetic to the situation and punishes Nolan by trapping him in the crawlspace.
Momma is suffering from visions of her deceased parents and husband haunting her. They had succumbed to the evil, and she dispatched them. The boys have not seen the visions she sees. Samuel believes her, but Nolan is skeptical and worries for Momma’s sanity. Eventually, a pivotal moment arrives when Momma decides that it is time to eat the family dog, Koda, and Nolan resists. Is The Evil real? Or is it all in Momma’s head? The family is ready to turn on itself, and the approach of unexpected visitors threatens to change all their perceptions.
Evaluation:
Conceptually, this had a lot of interesting concepts. The movie tries to walk a tight line as to whether there is anybody else out there or if this is all survivalist isolation madness. It reminds me of A Quiet Place, placing it in a post-apocalyptic world survival mode. But it never presents the stakes as being dire enough. The threat of The Evil feels woefully undercooked. When the threat becomes that of Momma’s potential madness, it gets more interesting, but this thread is cut too soon.
The world-building also has a Shyamalan-like habit of keeping environmental secrets under wraps. Many of its biggest secrets are only hinted at. Unfortunately, it never really picks a clean path. It sets up the possibility of it going psychological or fantastical. The more satisfying and more devastating reality was almost what the story delivered. Instead, it backed away and tried to keep all options on the table until the end. The movie’s climax also lands in an odd narrative location, and the story limps toward an unsatisfying conclusion.
Halle Berry committed herself to this performance and co-produced this movie. I appreciate that she was all-in on the story. Both Daggs and Jenkins had some great moments, but there were also times when the acting felt exaggerated. Sometimes, they were compelling, but at other moments, it felt like their behaviors were forced. They are at their best when playing off of Berry, which is entirely understandable.
Oh blessed house of ancient wood. Shelter to the pure and good, will keep you bright and never wrong. Heaven is here within our home.”
The family prayer that Nolan and Samuel say before bed.
Conclusion:
Never Let Go disappointed me. The trailer impressed me. I enjoyed Aja’s previous films, particularly Crawl and High Tension. I have always been a big Halle Berry fan. The sum of the parts just didn’t add up, and it felt like this movie suffered from indecision and commitment to something potentially really heartbreaking. The cinematography is muted, evoking a landscape of separation. The sounds are hushed, being deep in the woods. It just couldn’t create the dread and threat to capture my imagination.
It’s not a bad movie. It could have been so much more, and that is a bummer.
Never Let Go is rated R for child abuse, strong starvation horror, some violence, and ghoulish visions. This is not a particularly disturbing movie and would be suitable for teens. This Lionsgate feature is widely available on most streaming platforms.