Never Let Go (2024)

 

**This post contains spoilers**

The Story- Momma (Halle Berry) lives in a secluded cabin deep in the woods with her sons, Nolan (Percy Daggs IV) and Samuel (Anthony B. Jenkins), and the family dog, Coda. Facing a daily struggle without any recent signs of survivors, Momma constantly fights to protect Samuel and Nolan from The Evil, a malevolent shape-shifting force, in a seemingly post-apocalyptic world. Momma has one crucial rule for survival: never remove or let go of the rope, or the “lifeline” connected to the house, because The Evil’s touch comes with fatal consequences.

Food is scarce, and as more time passes, Nolan starts to question Momma’s strange behavior and the reasons behind her decisions. Has the world come to an end? Or is it possible Momma is hiding something from Nolan and Samuel?

My Thoughts- Halle Berry strongly plays the role of a fierce and dedicated mother, who deeply loves her sons. Momma has moments of compassion, but she’s also stern and cruel during certain scenes. Maybe you can understand why Momma is hard on Nolan and Samuel, because after all, they’re allegedly trying to survive an apocalyptic event. 

As the story progresses, you’ll see Momma unravel more and more. The frazzled look for Momma helps during her descent into madness, and Berry does a great job of showing believable emotions. The stress, the panicked reactions, how unstable Momma becomes, when she believes The Evil is closing in, but Momma occasionally has just enough clarity to savor a few happy and peaceful moments with her sons. Momma is a complicated character with so many layers, and Halle Berry absolutely nails each one of them.

The tense relationship between Nolan and Samuel is truly one of the bigger highlights of the movie, strengthened by two solid performances from Anthony B. Jenkins and Percy Daggs IV. Nolan is more of a rebel, and a freethinker, while Samuel is obedient and one hundred percent loyal to his mother. The brotherly feud hits a boiling point after that scene in the greenhouse. Jenkins and Daggs IV carried Never Let Go to the finish line, a remarkable achievement for a movie that features a big veteran star. 

So what’s going on? Is the outside world a post-apocalyptic wasteland? Is something off upstairs with Momma? Well, they hold off the big reveal until the final moments of the movie, and guess what? Everything is fine! The appearance of a hiker (Matthew Kevin Anderson) and his daughter (Cadence Compton), no apocalypse, and the outside world and civilization is intact.

The Evil? Mental illness. The clues for something being off with Momma are obvious. A lot of her decisions didn’t make any sense, and I always had the feeling she was hiding something. Momma killing off the family was a big red flag. 

Sure, MAYBE you could buy into the idea that Momma had to kill her mother, her father, and Nolan and Samuel’s father to protect them from the infection, but that line of thinking falls apart, when you realize Momma is the only one, who can actually see The Evil. It was all just hallucinations, and in the end, Momma was a mentally ill mother, who was too far gone, and a danger to her children.

The big clincher happens, when Nolan sees the hallucination of Momma. Momma tells Nolan mental illness is in the blood, like a disease, and that he should give in. The final sequence with Nolan trying to escape the burning cabin, after a demented Samuel decided to burn everything delivers some solid thrills. Samuel blamed Nolan for Momma committing suicide. The tension between Nolan and Samuel finally hit a boiling point, and Samuel snapped, something that was teased a lot after Momma’s death.

An eerie ending, with Nolan and Samuel surviving after the fight, Momma’s death, and Nolan’s struggle to escape the cabin. And a few creepy moments, including the Polaroid photo with The Evil’s hand touching Samuel’s shoulder, and Samuel repeating the “She loves me more” line with that bizarre smile on his face.

Never Let Go leaves some puzzling unanswered questions. What was on the one photo Momma refused to show to Nolan and Samuel, the one she was saving for later? What exactly led Momma to do everything that she did, including hunkering down in the cabin? Yes, I know mental illness, and a mother protecting her children from the evils of the world are big factors. But there’s a difference between spoon feeding the answers, and not giving some kind of explanation, or at least dropping some hints that’ll lead somewhere.

It drags in certain parts, and the scenes, where The Evil appears in different forms are kind of hokey. But Never Let Go is still a solid film. Director Alexandre Aja gets the most out of an isolated setting in the forest, using silence and the sounds of nature to create a tense atmosphere, including a few spooky nighttime scenes. Halle Berry delivers a good performance in the leading role. Jenkins and Dagger IV contributed to the strained and sometimes broken family dynamic with a pair of impressive performances, and you can understand why Nolan and Samuel chose different paths before and after the greenhouse scene. 

Never Let Go cleverly connects the problems with suffering from a mental illness and evil. Going with the idea for evil and mental illnesses sharing a connection as a sort of infection or a disease, especially if it’s something that runs in the family, really works. If The Evil touches you, there’s a good chance it’ll destroy your mind (you can see what happened to Samuel during the ending). The scenes are a bit corny, but using snakes to represent The Evil makes sense, considering what they were going for. Momma pointed out The Evil can be deceptive, while wearing many skins, similar to a snake shedding its skin. 

The finale and the ending? For me, the big reveal wasn’t a shocking surprise. If you pay close attention to everything that’s going on, you should see the answers are right in front of you for what’s real and what’s not real, because certain events and Momma’s explanations just aren’t adding up, as the story progresses. Still, I guess you could say it’s a mostly satisfying and happy ending. And I’m slightly curious about a sequel or a prequel, because Never Let Go still needs to answer some big questions. 

Rating- 7/10