What would you do to rescue your grandchild from a miserable life with a degenerate criminal family? 

In Let Him Go, George and Margaret Blackledge (Kevin Costner and Diane Lane) lose their son in a tragic accident, then lose their grandson Jimmy when daughter-in-law Lorna moves away without notice with her new husband and the young boy. 

Former lawman George seems content to let Jimmy go, but Margaret won’t. The Blackledges soon learn stepfather Donald Weboy is a bad man from a bad family. 

Blanche Weboy, the family matriarch, rules with a strong hand. Her sons are more than willing to enforce her brutal commands. 

Director Thomas Bezucha intersperses slow-paced segments with tense, unpredictable scenes in which Costner and Lane make a believable couple.

The film praises the beauty of family bonds but explores the horrors of family being elevated above all else.

But missing from the tale is any ultimate meaning. George laments at his son’s grave, “Sometimes that’s all life is, Margaret, the list of what we’ve lost.” 

Originally released in theaters and now available on streaming platforms, the film is rated R for violence, with some scenes too frightening for younger viewers. Characters do use blasphemous language on occasion.