Never Let Go - A un passo dal male

Alexandre Aya's "Never Let Go" is a serviceable horror film that offers a familiar blend of jump scares and haunted house tropes. While it doesn't break new ground, it delivers a solid performance from Halle Berry and a few tense moments.

The film is about a family trapped in their home, besieged by a mysterious, malevolent force. While the film does a decent job of building suspense and creating a claustrophobic atmosphere, it ultimately falls short of delivering anything truly original or terrifying.

Halle Berry delivers a solid performance as the determined mother, but the film's real strength lies in its depiction of the growing tension between the family members. The boys' fear and doubt slowly erode the trust and unity that once held them together, creating a palpable sense of dread.

Unfortunately, the film's pacing is a bit uneven, with some sequences feeling drawn-out and others moving too quickly. The climax, while tense, feels somewhat predictable and lacks the emotional impact it should.

Never Let Go is a family drama, a supernatural horror film and a psychological thriller all at once. It stars excellent actress Halle Berry as well as child actors Percy Daggs IV and Anthony B. Jenkins. The film's plot is similar to M. Night Shyamalan's The Village. The story revolves around a mother and her two children who have taken refuge in a cabin in the woods. They live in complete isolation and suffer from starvation. The mother keeps telling her children that evil forces surround their home. The only way to avoid a grisly fate is by being tied to a series of ropes that are installed in the cabin's basement. As the children grow into teenagers, they slowly start to doubt their mother's stories. When they finally decide to let go of the ropes, a dramatic series of events occurs.

This movie has several noteworthy strengths. First and foremost, the plot is clever and comes around with several twists and turns throughout. While the general idea of the story isn't new at all, it has been executed with enough wit to keep genre fans entertained from start to finish.

Another remarkable strength is the acting in this film. Halle Berry excels as fragile, obsessive and strict mother. The two child actors convince throughout as well with one of them portraying a son who truly believes his mother's tales while the other one showcases a more rebellious, independent and free-spirited attitude. The two actors complete each other splendidly. Both of them should have great careers ahead of themselves.

The locations have also been chosen with care. The old cabin truly underlines the simple, regressive and difficult lives that the three protagonists are living. The forest with its old trees, rough rocks and colourful moss is the perfect setting for a tale of isolation.

However, this film isn't without flaws. The movie's pace is particularly slow and especially the film's first half needs resilient, optimistic and mature viewers who are open to give this film time to grow. They will be rewarded with a more dramatic second half.

This movie is missing truly gripping scenes. A gloomy atmosphere is present from start to finish but the film plods along without any notable highlights. This is a very mild drama and thriller that would have benefitted from a few more intense sequences.

At the end of the day, Never Let Go is a family drama, supernatural horror movie and psychological thriller that convinces with a clever plot, strong acting performances and fitting settings while suffering from a particularly slow pace and a lack of intensity. Never Let Go is thus recommended to mature, optimistic and resilient genre fans only.

I mean, this movie is not very good. The actors playing the boys make it watchable. Halle is not really given much to do or work with, but being a pro, she gives her best.

The premise is decent enough, but the tired troupes come fast and furious even though the pace is slower than an ice pack.

Probably better in a streaming service so you don't feel like you invested too much. If his is a film that passes the time, but will quickly be forgotten. In 6 months nobody will remember it, but then again, most films are average hence being average and this one is at least a 5/10 for the kids alone.

Stream it.

This film is currently sitting at a 5.7 and I think that's criminally low. Not sure if anybody paid attention to the ending shot but that answers the question in no uncertain terms.

The question is whether or not the danger in the forest is real or just a figment of Halle Berry's imagination. It's a layered, heartfelt story of a woman and her two children living in isolation and what may very well be a case of a mother having ruined her life along with her two young sons due to untreated schizophrenia. Are there scary things in the woods? Are the ropes really protecting them? At different points in the film it's impossible to decide and it does keep you guessing until the end.

Halle Berry is competent as always but the two young actors are real standouts here. They've got some heavy lifting for such young inexperienced actors and they do a shockingly good job. From about the midpoint on they are essentially carrying the film.

Aside from some all around great acting the practical efx on the monsters in the Woods is refreshing. There is some small amount of CGI, but there's plenty of good old fashioned blood and makeup to make these creatures just strange looking enough to be mildly spooky.

Overall Never Let Go has a lot going for it. It's not the first film to toss around the question of whether or not mental illness is at the root of the horror. I admit it's a widely used trope in this genre. But this movie handles it more competently than many others. And again it's helped out by some great child actors. I'll be expecting to see more of those boys in the near future.

Solid 7/10 for me.

Never Let Go starts with an intriguing premise: a mother in a post-apocalyptic world fights to protect her children from bloodthirsty creatures by keeping them tied to a rope. If they let go, they're attacked. However, despite this interesting concept, the movie fails to create the tense atmosphere the story demands. Instead of pulling us into a truly dangerous and desperate situation, the film loses focus and struggles to convey the real threat the characters face.

The plot twists are another weak point. Some are too predictable, and from early on, I felt like I could guess where the story was heading. Though I'm not entirely sure, because the ending is especially confusing and poorly explained, leaving us without a clear conclusion - as if the writer wasn't sure what message they wanted to convey.

Director Alexandre Aja has proven capable of crafting good films with simpler themes, like the remake of The Hills Have Eyes, High Tension, or Piranha 3D, but whenever he tackles more complex narratives, such as in Horns, he tends to fall short. In his case, "less is more" really applies.

That said, I have to admit the different approach might attract viewers looking for something unusual. However, for me, this film didn't hit the mark. There was a moment of real tension involving the fate of an animal that made me anxious, but aside from that, I felt indifferent in about 80% of the situations.

It's far from terrible due to the original concept that sets it apart from other films in this subgenre, but it lacks the essential ingredients to truly stand out or leave a lasting impression.