Kevin Costner’s 2020 western Let Him Go is one of his most overlooked western films. Costner, the director and star of the new Old West movie Horizon: An American Saga, ended his successful run with Paramount and Taylor Sheridan’s celebrated series Yellowstone to pursue his new franchise. After the woeful box office performance of Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1, which made just over $30 million worldwide against a production budget of $50 million and a significant financial investment from Costner himself, Costner’s franchise looks just about doomed. Fortunately, Costner’s 2020 film Let Him Go was much better received by fans and critics alike.
Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2 was initially set to be released in theaters on August 16 but has been pulled due to Chapter 1’s underwhelming box office. While the movie is obviously done and would have been released as scheduled had Chapter 1 not flopped so harshly at the late June 2024 box office, there’s no indication of when or how Costner will go about releasing it. Horizon may gain more of a following over time that would actually warrant the creation of a sequel in the first place. In teh meantime, Let Him Go is a great Costner film that’s currently streaming on Peacock.
Let Him Go Is An Overlooked Kevin Costner Western – What The Movie Is About
Let Him Go combines elements of contemporary Western with those of psychological thrillers and crime dramas, resulting in a highly captivating and entertaining product. Costner stars as George Blackledge, a retired sheriff who, along with his wife Margaret played by Diane Lane, grieves the loss of their adult son. Together they set out to find and rescue their only grandson, 3-year-old Jimmy, from a dangerous family. Let Him Go is based on the novel of the same name by Larry Watson, which is set in 1951, although thefilm is set in 1963 and takes place in Montana.
Let Him Go is directed by Thomas Bezucha (Fargo, Big Eden), who also adapted the screenplay based on Watson’s novel. It also features appearances by Lesley Manville, Kayli Carter, Ryan Bruce, Will Brittain, and Jeffrey Donovan. The film only made $11.6 million worldwide at the box office against a production budget of $21 million but was released in theaters on November 6, 2020, when movie theaters were still heavily compromised by the pandemic. The film earned an impressive 85% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1’s 47% score.
Why Let Him Go’s Reviews Are Positive
A majority of critics praised Let Him Go for its compelling emotional narrative and its great performances. Richard Roeper of The Chicago Sun-Times wrote in his review of Let Him Go, “Watching Diane Lane and Kevin Costner connect as a couple determined to retrieve their grandson is pure movie heaven.” Katie Walsh of The Los Angeles Times writes, “In many ways, it feels like the midcentury pulp thrillers it emulates: well-plotted and grisly, but almost ephemeral. It is Lane’s performance that lingers, one that dares to be uniquely hopeful about the future, and letting the old ways die.”
Some critics point out the interesting contrast between subtlety and violence in Let Him Go. Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com writes, “Understated in its quiet rhythms and vast beauty, [Let Him Go] is fortified with strong performances and, eventually, punctuated by shocking moments of violence.” Some critics, however, were not as impressed with the film. For example, John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter writes, “An increasingly rare opportunity to see A-listers tell a grown-up, unsensationalized story fades as quickly as the red stripe on the horizon at dawn.”
Why Wasn’t Let Him Go A Box Office Success?
2020 was obviously a difficult year for the Hollywood box office with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which is unquestionably the biggest factor in why Let Him Go’s box office was so poor. By normal metrics, Let Him Go would be considered a box office failure and would belong in the same category as the aforementioned Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1. Since the traditional box office rules did not apply to any 2020 movie released after March, it would be unfair to call Let Him Go a true failure. Let Him Go succeeds in many ways that Horizon was unable to and is one of Costner’s more overlooked movies in recent years.
