Full spoilers for Never Let Go follow.
Never Let Go is the latest movie by hit production company Lionsgate, which is a studio known for the huge horror franchise Saw, as well as popular action franchises The Hunger Games and John Wick (which recently got a trailer for Ballerina). Although this creepy survival horror hit, which gave similar vibes to A Quiet Place, had potential, it really ran out of steam in the third act.
It is annoying that this appears to be a common occurrence with new movies. While I’m not entirely opposed to mystery and questions, sometimes it feels like the script was missing something and the result might leave audiences disappointed, and hungry for something they’ll never get to have. That was definitely the case with Never Let Go, which teased this great, evil threat and then fizzled out at the very end.
Movies shouldn’t have to over-explain what’s going on, but it’s nice when they give us something to work with. For me, Never Let Go was ambiguous to the point of being frustrating, leaving me with more questions than I had going in, which is never a good sign.
The evil, which is just named ‘The Evil’, is this apparent great threat that has taken over the world and leaving Momma (even she doesn’t have a name) and her two boys as the only survivors. By the end, we find out this is a lie, and it literally does not elaborate beyond that. The boys go off into this civilization they’ve been sheltered from their whole lives, and that’s it. We don’t find out what it is, if it was all in their mother’s head or if it’s some demonic figure isolated to their remote cabin.
The boys could not see The Evil, but it still doesn’t answer why it was so central to their lives for all these years. A lot of it didn’t add up and despite the good performances and the creepy atmosphere, the story was lacking compared to the best horror movies.
Should we completely do away with ambiguous endings?
No, not entirely, but they do seem to be happening in abundance and the result is not always good. But as we’ve seen throughout film history, it can be done very well. Take a look at Inception – one of the best Christopher Nolan movies – and its now iconic totem ending. We never get to find out if Cobb was in the real world or not, but given the richness of the hours that preceded that final shot, the ending is memorable. Frustrating, sure, but it’s great.
Never Let Go wasn’t able to reach those heights as we barely knew anything about the threat to begin with. There was little to keep the audience engaged, if anything I found myself braced for another jump scare where Momma would see another manifestation of The Evil but that was more to do with loud audio cues than me being scared of the antagonist. I don’t really care if I know nothing about what’s jumping out to scare me in the first place. Lore building is important.
Endings are tricky, but many big-budget movies are really struggling to stick the landing. A prime example of that is Lionsgate’s abysmal Borderlands, which insulted video game fans everywhere and then fizzled out into an unsatisfying conclusion. Not ambiguous, just boring. Can you tell I absolutely loved it? In all seriousness, if you want to read my takedown of Borderlands, here’s why I called it the death of good video game adaptations.
It’s not all bleak though, 2024 has seen plenty of great movies, and A24 in particular is leading the charge with recent movies like I Saw the TV Glow and MaXXXine, which was one of five A24 movies I couldn’t wait to watch in 2024 – both of which nailed that all-important finale. I just wish the bigger names would follow suit.