Studio: Hulu/20th Century Studios
Director: Damien Power
Writer: Andrew Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari
Producer: Scott Frank
Stars: Havana Rose Liu, Danny Ramirez, David Rysdahl, Dale Dickey, Mila Harris, Dennis Haysbert
Review Score:
Summary:
After finding a captive girl in a van outside, a young woman must uncover the kidnapper among four strangers snowed in at a remote rest stop.
Review:
Ever stop to think about all of the sinister things that could possibly take place at a remote rest stop in the middle of nowhere? On an interstate drive I took overnight by myself years back, I stopped at an out-of-the-way turnoff on a fairly desolate strip of road, probably somewhere in Utah. It was cold, snowy, and definitely dark. There wasn’t another soul in sight. No cameras either. Being a horror-minded person, naturally my prevailing notion was, “Anyone could do anything to me out here right now and who knows how long it would be before someone found my body.” Plug that thought into the back of your head during your next solo road trip.
Recovering drug addict Darby encounters similar danger during her snowbound experience at an isolated visitor’s center. Upon learning of her estranged mother’s impending death, Darby breaks out of rehab for the umpteenth time, steals an orderly’s car, and starts speeding towards Salt Lake City. She won’t get there though, because raging snowfall strands Darby at a highway rest stop with four other folks stuck waiting out the storm.
One more person then gets added into the mix. When Darby goes outside to search for cell service, she hears a captive girl pleading for help from behind a duct tape gag in the back of a van. Darby can’t get inside the vehicle. She can’t call 911. Uncertain of the situation, all she can do for now is go back inside and try to find the kidnapper before this frying pan can fall into a fire.
There turns out to be much more to “No Exit” than that, although the movie’s marketing bills it as a paranoia thriller whose whodunit is a key part of the premise. Accordingly, I went into the film thinking it was a mystery you could try to solve at home. At first, all we know is that the girl’s van has Nevada plates. Over the course of a card game with the quintet, we learn various background bits about where they’re from and what they do. Maybe I’d been binging too much “Murderville,” but I was watching “No Exit” with an eye for cataloguing every innocuous action and slip of the tongue as a possible clue for identifying the culprit.
If you too are planning to jot notes in a mental notebook, don’t bother. We learn who the kidnapper is less than halfway through the runtime, at which point plotting switches its mode of suspense to cat-and-mouse tension that comes from hide-and-seek chases and quietly threatening confrontations.
After a long start to establish Darby’s drug problem and troubled family situation that don’t amount to a whole lot in the end, “No Exit” seemingly settles in for a character study nestled inside a chamber drama. The card game functions as an obvious opportunity for everyone to eye each other suspiciously during the “getting to know you” stage. The visitor center’s snug rooms, and the parking lot outside, feel like stages rather than real locations, so the theatricality of the scenery sacrifices authenticity for person-to-person intimacy.
This artificial feeling ends up working in favor of the film’s fiction somewhat, because every narrative element ultimately morphs “No Exit” into a fully manufactured fantasy. The kidnapped girl turns out to have a medical condition that effectively turns her into a countdown clock. One of the motorists used to be a nurse, and another used to be a Marine, and of course their particular skill sets prove useful to specific plot points. By the time the story introduces a wholly preposterous last twist, all anyone in the audience can do is thwip their lips with a grin. Compared to how simply everything starts, the climax goes completely crazy with a massive fire, a car crash, several standoffs, and several shootouts too. In the end, we’ve come such a long way from five strangers playing cards at a table, we can’t help but involuntarily applaud the filmmakers for going all in on implausibility that nonetheless makes for entertainingly absurd escapism.
Based on a novel by Taylor Adams, “No Exit” conveniently clips along from beat to beat in a way that would make any excited screenwriter say, “Ooh, this is working out neatly!” An actor then picks up those pages, sees multiple morality flip-flops for each role, then realizes they’ve struck a performer’s dream come true. A director reads that same script, sees one main location with five primary actors and thinks, “This will be straightforward to stage.” In other words, it’s easy to see why everyone gave “No Exit” a green light and eagerly got on board.
For the viewer, “No Exit” is certainly no masterpiece of tension-filled mystique. Conversely, it’s not easily dismissed as a throwaway thriller. Architected to be a tight story that tidily ties each piece together, it’s a pleasantly palatable option for a quick bite of suspense on a laid-back night of playing it safe with your movie choice. It’s always a plus to spend time with Dennis Haysbert and Dale Dickey too, and since the film doesn’t demand your full engagement, you’ll even get to play on your phone without ever having to press Pause.
Review Score: 60
If you want to see impossible amounts of blood explode crimson colors like the world’s worst version of a gender reveal, well, “Abigail” at least has that.