Now that movie releases are slowing down I'm starting to watch some movies that I had on my bucket list, one of them Never Let Go, the latest horror film from director Alexandre Aja and I have to say this movie really played with my mind from beginning to end, although it does have some flaws, I guess I was letting this movies fly by because something told me they were not the greatest but sometimes you find gems between this low rated movies. From wondering if what I was seeing was real and if not, then what?. Halle Berry play the role of mother "Momma" trying to protect two sons from evil force apparently dead, demons who ended the world and Momma try pulling her children to an isolated cabin in woods, the movie seems a mix of horror and family drama.
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Right from the start, the movie sets an gloomy atmosphere with a foggy forest setting and an creepy old cabin that seems like a safe haven and a prison at the same time. From the trailer what really grabbed me about the movie was the fact that they cant go other places where the rope does not reach, but I never thought the movie will keep you guessing if is there an evil force out there or is it all in Berry's character's head and when you think you know it's got you figured out, it throws you another curve ball to make you question everything again. Yes the main flaw is that the movie is predictable but I think this film is not trying to win any Oscars but entertain viewers.
The movie reach multiple themes of mental illness, family trauma and how far parents will go to protect their children, packaged neatly in this supernatural horror, but this also leaves a lot of questions without answers and I guess that's fine too, because after all supernatural doesn't really exist its all fantasy at the end of the day. The religious aspects and symbolism are there too, with the whole snake imagery and blessed house concept but they don't hit you over the head with it not trying to specifically make this a possession movie. Even as this movie does have its faults, the ending leaves a major question mark that isn’t answered and some scenes that you can watch from a mile away, it does manage to somehow hit that correct spacing between psychological horror and real horror, proving that if you don’t mind the issues, it will keep you entertained.
The story tracks a mother whom we never see; I'm referring to their grand mother, other than Momma and who lives with her two sons Samuel and Nolan in an isolated cabin. Momma says that they survive by being tethered to their house by ropes, because there is an evil force in the woods that destroyed the world and the only thing that can keep them safe are their blessed house. Momma reminds them every time they have to leave the house to go get food or supplies to NEVER LET GO of their lifeline, and every time they have to go out, they have to be tethered to the house with this very very long ropes.
The plot is interesting because it is developed in the perspectives of the family members, the first time Momma can see the evil entities they are people from her past, specifically her mother and deceased husband. Despite believing fully in his mother’s warnings, Nolan begins to doubt if there is any truth on this story, along with his situation in general especially when that reality does not seem right and they happen to make themselves un tethered and nothing happens to them. As winter approaches and low food supplies, increase tension begins to build up, Momma decides they need to kill their dog Koda for food and that triggers a whole sequence of events that force Nolan to trap Momma on the greenhouse when trying to safe Koda, their dog. They don’t have a family anymore, they don’t have a home, they are left alone and starving until a hiker stumbles upon their cabin and so they find out that the world hasn’t ended after all.
In her role as Momma, Halle Berry absolutely shines and brings such energy to it, raw and vulnerable, it makes you feel sympathy, but in my opinion its the script of the story that falls flat when it becomes too predictable for my taste. She is able to perfectly balance the loving mother side with her character having a questionable mental state and you constantly wonder if she is protecting her kids or if she is in fact harming her kids with her beliefs and actions, the answer is obvious but that's the scenario. There is also Anthony B. Jenkins as Samuel and Percy Daggs IV as Nolan, really stand up in contrast to Berry's character as I think all three did a great job on the acting department. Their work as brothers feels real, with Daggs being truly skeptical and rational and bringing Nolan the same reasoning, and Jenkins playing his trust in the words of his mother despite the fact that they have a hunch nothing she says is real.
I really got into the psychological side of this movie and particularly how it plays with the reality vs perception thing. Even when it drifts into familiar territory, it’s pretty compelling way it deals with mental illness and generational trauma. For me it was hit or miss when it came to the visual effects for the evil demons crawling around the place although the ending scene when Samuel gets "possessed" data-wpil-keyword-link="linked" data-wpil-monitor-id="1245">possessed" did the trick for me. The scenes that were terrifyingly creepy either were a little too heavy on the CGI to really kick them out of my experience, but the isolated setting and constant fog really helped keep the creepy vibe when they created the atmosphere with it.
Never Let Go’s ending is perhaps is a very controversial one and I think it deserves some additional details, not necessary a sequel but better explanation would make it smoother. Things went to hell quickly when Sam killed the hiker named Cole, assuming he was the devil entity. We are led to the encounter with the hiker's daughter, which turns out to be the evil force shape shifting as her and who possesses Samuel. We now have one of the kids who has succumbed to the same darkness that hunts down his mother, while Nolan manages to break out from the pattern of fear and paranoia, from the cutting of his rope and finally facing the evil entity that shows up as his mother, is what this symbolizes. A final Polaroid shows the evil's hand on Sam's shoulder, and his final line makes it seem as though he's still under the evil's influence but the movie ends with both boys being rescued.
It’s interesting because this ending leaves you wondering if the evil was real or just a metaphor for inherited trauma and mental illness, how did Samuel got possessed but at first they were questioning the entire situation when Momma was always fixed on the idea that the world has ended and there is an evil entity in the woods??!!. Sam, who totally believed his mother's warnings, gets possessed, while the skeptical Nolan breaks free, the only reasoning behind it could be that even blind faith is as dangerous as the evil itself? Or is it proving how mental illness can be hereditary?
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