Never Let Go Review
Never Let Go (2024) Film Review, a movie directed by Alexandre Aja, written by KC Coughlin and Ryan Grassby and starring Halle Berry, Anthony B. Jenkins, Percy Daggs IV, Mila Morgan, William Catlett, Stephanie Lavigne, Matthew Kevin Anderson, Christin Park and Georges Gracieuse.
Halle Berry stars in a spooky and wildly entertaining new horror film, Never Let Go, directed by the master craftsman, Alexandre Aja. Although Berry’s mother character in the film fades a bit from the picture towards the conclusion, the Oscar-winning actress has some phenomenal scenes in Aja’s cautionary tale about the need to let go of one’s inner demons and the necessity to confront the outer ones. Berry carries the film far a while while the two younger performers who play her kids, Anthony B. Jenkins and Percy Daggs IV, take over later in the movie to deliver the film’s important messages. This film’s quality is, unfortunately, undermined a bit by its conventional ending but still remains a quality horror picture nevertheless.
As the film opens, we see Berry’s character and her two kids, Nolan (Daggs IV) and Samuel (Jenkins) getting by day-to-day in a house in the middle of the woods. They have a pet dog, Koda, and do what they must to eat and survive. Berry’s mother character seems to have a lot of love and admiration for her children but there are evil spirits in the woods that seem to threaten their very existence. A horrifying woman appears at given intervals and scares the character Berry portrays. This lady appears as a ghastly image who resembles a demonic entity. But, she does seem to disappear so the movie begs the question of how real the demons are that Berry’s mom character and her kids try to avoid.
The children connect themselves to a rope which will only let them go a certain number of feet away from their home. This rope protects them from harm as a family and Berry preaches that an evil lurks in the woods which knows no boundaries. As tensions mount, Berry threatens the life of the dog, Koda, which the family feeds despite a lack of a sufficient long-term food supply.
The two sons are expertly played by the young actors at hand. There’s Nolan, the good one and Samuel, the more frightening one who believes in demons wholeheartedly and loves his mother without limits. When Berry’s mother character threatens the dog, Nolan steps in but a tragedy occurs that involves the slicing of someone’s throat. This movie is perfectly crafted by Aja in the early scenes and in the midsection of the picture, especially. Soon, a hiker shows up and things spiral out of control with unpredictable results all around which ultimately makes the Hollywood ending feel forced and tacked on, for whatever reason.
This movie deals with themes of love and family connection but also with fear and demonic forces that derive from within the human experience. As the plot gets more and more frightening, the audience questions whether or not Berry is playing a psychopath or a loving mother or both. Anthony B. Jenkins more than steals the show as the more wicked of the two brothers. Samuel doesn’t want to see his mom get hurt and knows the mother loves him but when things don’t match up to what his mother taught him, Samuel is forced to make some difficult decisions which become more advanced when a girl around his age shows up looking for her dad. Let’s stop there because I’ve already said too much regarding this film’s plot developments.
Inner fears and protecting children from evil are themes which run rampant in horror movies but Never Let Go does something a bit different. Thanks to Berry’s stellar work and Aja’s crackerjack direction, the movie builds suspense in a way that will take the audience for a loop. Percy Daggs IV creates a believable character who the audience will choose to root for even if Berry seems to be relatable at times. Berry is playing a woman who could be off her rocker or be dead serious about the evil that exists around her and her family. Berry hits the nail on the head in terms of the performance of her role within the picture.
Because the movie takes an easy way out at the end, it’s easy to give the film a couple of demerits but the quality of the movie is resoundingly good for a large portion of the film. Anthony B. Jenkins is bone-chillingly intense as the son who seems to recognize his mother’s demands and will protect his mom’s faith in the demons at all costs. But, do these evil spirits really exist? And, if so, is there any way to escape their wicked wrath?
There is a great deal of fear that people have of the unknown thus some people create their own bubble around them to protect themselves. This movie builds on that concept but there are genuine horrific elements interwoven in the world at large that are sometimes psychological in nature. Aja creates a setting that is sinister in nature but is it all a facade? See the film to find out.
Never Let Go is nothing short of breathtakingly scary in its conception and has a strong story line. The conclusion feels like a result of test screenings that pleased audiences rather than a more natural way to end the movie. Despite this fact, Berry hasn’t been this strong in years and the kid actors excel with fine performances. In the end, Aja’s movie is about the way people let fear overcome their ambitions and the suffering that ensues as a result. But, then there’s the demonic element of the film that shows audiences that sometimes what lurks in the mind and in the world can be very frightening to comprehend. This film certainly is pretty scary as well and will please horror fans.
Rating: 7.5/10
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