No Exit Review

Plot: The story of Darby Thorne, a young woman en route to a family emergency who is stranded by a blizzard and forced to find shelter at a highway rest area with a group of strangers. When she stumbles across an abducted girl in a van in the parking lot, it sets her on a terrifying life-or-death struggle to discover who among them is the kidnapper. 

Review: No Exit is being marketed as a whodunit with echoes of Agatha Christie and James Patterson. The trailers position the story as being about five people stuck during a snowstorm and one of them is a kidnapper. Had this film stuck to that mystery, it may have fared better. It becomes quickly apparent in the first act that not only are the trailers misleading but fully missed an opportunity to prepare audiences for this intense and violent thriller that does have some surprises up its sleeve. While ultimately proving to be a fairly formulaic tale, No Exit does offer a pretty satisfying third act even if it doesn’t make up for the mediocre first two.

The film opens with Darby Thorne (Havana Rose Liu), a drug addict in a rehab facility who receives word that her mother is gravely ill. Breaking out, she soon finds herself stranded at a visitor’s center in the mountains with four other people: Ed (Dennis Haysbert), a veteran, and his wife Sandi (Dale Dickey), a former nurse as well as Ash (Danny Ramirez) and the odd Lars (David Rysdahl). Meeting each other and trying to pass time during the inclement weather, Darby heads outside to try and find cell reception and discovers a van holding a kidnapped little girl. From that point forward, Darby suspects everyone. In quick succession, the reveals are made and the movie shifts from a mystery to a survival tale.

Right off the bat, No Exit makes great use of its isolated and secluded location but wastes the slow burn of revealing the identity of the kidnapper. At a lean ninety minutes, there is very little time to develop this narrative as barrels towards the conclusion. This means that little character traits about each of the strangers are peppered into the conversation to help us sympathize and suspect each person. Unfortunately, these details are shoved in so superficially that I found myself not caring very much for anyone involved. Director Damien Power never allows us enough to time like or dislike anyone before twisting the story and by the time we know who is who, the body count begins to rise.

As evidenced by the trailer, this film is a showcase for Havana Rose Liu. The newcomer does a solid job in a lead role that gives us a character it is somewhat hard to feel sorry for who ends up being a badass when the chips are down. Darby, a drug addict who has relapsed countless times, is not the typical hero in a story like this which makes the physical trauma she endures less impactful than it would be with a more innocent character. Still, Liu does good work here with what she is given. I was hoping for more from all of the setup in the first act but by the time the credits roll it almost feels like filler that never gets any true payoff.

The rest of the cast is good in varying capacities. Without giving any spoilers, the cast of No Exit is populated by performers with track records playing both heroes and antagonists. Dennis Haysbert and Dale Dickey bring a veteran presence to the film opposite younger actors Danny Ramirez and David Rysdahl. I continually expected double and triple-crosses through the movie and when you find out the truth you may be as unsurprised as I was. But, even with the predictable progression of the story, there were still several tense sequences that commanded my attention. The problem, ultimately, is that every chance that No Exit has to upend expectations end up going exactly where I thought they would.

No Exit is a quick-paced and forgettable thriller that does not provide a mystery nearly as engaging as it thinks it is. There is a lot of potential in the setup that is lost due to the pacing never allowing enough time for trust or distrust to set in. The missed opportunity here is making us guess who the villain really is. Since we learn the answer within the first half of the film, the rest is just wondering who will live through the storm. Every one of the actors here does a good job with the material they were given, it is just not enough content to really make us care. By the time the credits roll, you will likely be impressed by Havana Rose Liu and look forward to her next project. Aside from that, you will probably not remember much about this movie as you look for something else to watch.

No Exit premieres on February 25th on Hulu.

No Exit

AVERAGE

6