A young woman is stranded in a visitor's center during a snowstorm
with four strangers, one of whom has a kidnapped child in their van. HORROR
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No Exit (2022)Directed by Damien Power
Written by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari Starring Havana Rose Liu, Danny Ramirez, David Rysdahl, Dale Dickey, Dennis Haysbert, Mila Harris Based on the novel by Taylor Adams |
No Exit is a surprising little gem that showed up on Hulu last Friday, after a seemingly indefinite shelving from Disney. I expect to see so many more odd ducks from 20th Century Studios in the near future. This film has so many themes, from the strength of our choices to the consequences of being a little shit child. My one real problem with the film is that I feel like I didn't get enough from it. I wanted more. Who runs this child slavery ring that's brought up? But what we get is fairly satisfying, though, if not convenient as hell.
Darby (Liu) is on her seventh attempt at rehab. Things aren't going well. She's jaded and out of contact with her family. To make matters worse, her mother is in the hospital from an aneurysm. Darby escapes rehab to go see her, and winds up stranded in a visitor's center during a terrible snowstorm. There, she meets four strangers. Ed (Haysbert) and his wife Sandi (Dickey), super high strung Lars (Rysdahl), and cool and collected Ash (Ramirez). While looking for cell service outside, Darby discovers a kidnapped child in a van belonging to someone inside. The reveal of who kidnapped her is not shocking, but the subsequent reveals of how deep this goes are pretty shocking. I don't want to say much here, but it's worth the watch. I liked No Exit for the most part. I just think it needed a bit more oomph throughout. The finale has that oomph, what with the nail gun scenes and the pretty crazy fights. Overall, it's a decent flick that I will probably enjoy better with subsequent viewings. |
Shortly after acquiring 20th Century Fox and everything they had already filmed, Disney had to start making decisions on how to release these movies. Their answer, it seems, is to forgo theatrical rollouts and dump it onto their streamer, Hulu. That’s right, folks, Disney owns Hulu. Anyway, this feels like a disservice every so often due to some of these films being pretty damn good. Films like No Exit. One which deserved to be put on a big screen so as to be viewed and enjoyed with a large audience. Alas, they instead decided to put together a poor marketing campaign and just quietly put it out on the aforementioned streamer. Hopefully, audiences discover it over the weekend as this has be one of the more fun and intense times I’ve had with a movie. Realistically, it will probably disappear into the algorithm.
Havana Rose Liu stars as our main character, Darby, and she is wonderful to watch. The film does a tremendous job of instantly endearing her to the audience and rooting for her as the plot progresses. A plot which the trailer either purposely or mistakenly marked a bit different from what we watch. In the trailer, it appeared the film would be a mystery of who kidnapped the child in the van. In the film, it’s more of how many people in this group are involved with the kidnapping and for what purpose. This actually makes for a more engaging film as the stakes are constantly raised and the surprises just keep on coming. All of this backed by great performances across the board. While I briefly mentioned Liu as our protagonist; also have to give some praise to Danny Ramirez who gives a delightful performance as well. And, while this isn’t filled with tons of gore, the few intense, gory scenes are done really well. I honestly think we need more films like this. Just easy to watch popcorn flicks which promise a fun, twist filled ride for about 90 minutes. With a story which keeps you engaged and an excellent central performance, don’t let this film disappear into the Hulu algorithm. |