Posted in: 20th Century Studios, Hulu, Kaitlyn Booth, Movies | Tagged: 20th century studios, movies, no exit, Review

No Exit Review: A Solid Enough Thriller That Gets The Job Done

Published Fri, 25 Feb 2022 02:38:11 -0600

No Exit isn't going to change anyone's life, but in terms of direct-to-streaming thrillers, it is solid enough and gets done what it sets out to do.

Director: Damien Powers
Summary: During a blizzard and stranded at an isolated highway rest stop in the mountains, a college student discovers a kidnapped child hidden in a car belonging to one of the people inside.

No Exit Review: A Solid Enough Thriller That Gets The Job Done — No Exit Poster. © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Back in the day, "direct to VHS" or "direct to DVD" were considered things that were looked down upon. If a movie was a direct to VHS/DVD movie, then people assumed that it wasn't good enough for a theatrical release and that the entire thing wasn't very good to begin with. That isn't true, but that was how people looked at these releases. These days, a direct-to-streaming release isn't as looked down upon, but it also depends on the studio and where they are releasing it. Netflix turns heads when they release in theaters and not just on streaming, while something like 20th Century Studios seems like something that wouldn't do a lot of direct-to-streaming releases. No Exit is a 20th Century movie filmed after the Fox buyout and is heading straight to Hulu.

No Exit is one of those movies that could have found a box office audience maybe before 2020 happened. However, despite the fact that things seem to be improving, some people just don't feel comfortable going to the movies, and if they are, they are going to take the risk on a sure thing and not something they might not be familiar with. However, Hulu could use some good publicity to remind people that it exists, and this is a good movie to do that. While it doesn't have a bunch of well-known stars, it is based on a popular book. The concept is also one that is really easy to wrap your head around, so all the pieces are there for a pretty damn good movie. The cast is small by design which adds to the isolation that the characters and you are feeling. Director Damien Powers might have shot this movie in a studio in New Zealand in the summer, but it really captures how a severe blizzard really just swallows everything around it up.

No Exit: Shooting a Movie That Takes Place in a Blizzard During the Summer — Havana Rose Liu as Darby in 20th Century Studios' NO EXIT, exclusively on Hulu. Photo by Kirsty Griffin. ©2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

The cast is good all around, but the standout goes to star Havana Rose Liu making her big-screen debut as Darby, our heroine. It's not an easy role, and she really gets put through the wringer physically and emotionally, but Liu is game for it. Darby isn't just a Strong Female Character; she is a highly flawed human being. She is an addict who had to flee rehab to make a last-minute trip to see her mom in the hospital. She stole a car. The journey we see her go on isn't one of physical strength but emotional. Liu has a commanding presence, and she does a great job of feeling like a real person with flaws who is put in an impossible situation and just trying her best.

Since this is a movie with a small cast and all four of them are suspects in this kidnapping, it's hard to talk about the specifics of each role without giving anything away. The mystery here is who is behind this kidnapping, and what can you do against someone who has done this to a child? Rest assured that the rest of the cast does a great job embodying their various roles and do a good job of showing true colors once everything is revealed. The mystery is one that is slowly peeling back the layers of everything, but even then, it felt like it might have tipped its hand a bit too early. The final twist was good, but initially, it felt like things might have started moving a bit too early. Then again, No Exit is a brisk 95 minutes, so there wasn't much time to build things up. There weren't enough scenes of Darby subtly trying to figure out who was the kidnapper which is a shame.

What No Exit isn't here to do is reinvent the wheel, which is in no way a bad thing. It just means that this is the type of movie that we have seen before and that we have seen executed well before. All of the pieces here work, and they are good, but it doesn't really do anything to elevate the genre in any way, and it doesn't really stand out in any particular way. Powers does an excellent job of building and maintaining the tension, but the overall mystery and the way the movie ends is going pretty much exactly where you think it is. There are moments where you are so caught up with what's on-screen that you forget that you've seen this all before, and then there are times when you aren't as caught up.

No Exit isn't going to change your life, but there isn't very much at the box office worth checking out right now, and if you have Hulu, it's worth looking into. The performances are good, with Liu being the standout, and for fans of the book [from what I have been able to gather from looking around the internet, I haven't read the book yet], this looks like a pretty faithful adaptation. Absolutely worth looking into but probably not something that is going to end up on anyone's "best of" list.

No Exit