While there’s no doubt that the setup for No Exit makes it seem like an enticing thriller, the movie, unfortunately, doesn’t utilize any of its elements to the fullest. There are hints that No Exit might have excelled more under different circumstances, but as it is, the movie comes up short in more ways than one.
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The setup for the story is fleet and uncomplicated. Main character Darby is in a court-ordered rehab when she learns that her mother has had an aneurysm and is in the hospital. She is not permitted to leave, but manages to escape the facility, steal a car, and hit the road. However, a severe snowstorm forces her to stop at a roadside visitors center with four other travelers. There, Darby discovers a young girl tied up and gagged in a van, meaning someone among the group is a kidnapper.
Those who may expect this to set up a drawn-out, slow-burn mystery as to identifying who this van belongs to may be in for some disappointment. The van’s owner is revealed very early in the film, making this more of a thriller with the question of how Darby is going to help this girl, and survive, while she is trapped at the visitors center (which is devoid of both cell service and Wi-Fi) with the kidnapper.
No Exit, to its credit, does something that Kenneth Branagh’s recent Death On The Nile failed to do: it gets right to the heart of its story efficiently. However, while No Exit’s economy of storytelling keeps it moving along at a quick pace, this is sometimes to its detriment. Darby’s family problems are only explored through text messages and a brief phone conversation. There are some early traces of Darby’s rebellious nature in a group therapy session, but rather than spending its early minutes building on her character, No Exit prefers to get her out the door as quickly as possible.
Once Darby finds herself at the visitors center, however, the film oddly slows down. A card game between the occupants of the center (played by Dennis Haysbert, Dale Dickey, David Rysdahl, and The Falcon And The Winter Soldier’s Danny Ramirez) is used for character introductions and to build tension, and yet the nature of how this sequence is directed and cut together doesn’t quite accomplish either of these goals particularly well. In the hands of a different director, this sequence may have been much more effective.
No Exit is only director Damien Power’s second feature film, after Killing Ground. Power almost seems reluctant to push the envelope too much in these early scenes, leaving the compositions and editing to feel flat and perfunctory. The director seems to want to pull more of this story out of the dialogue and the characters. That may be due to the nature of the script, which is adapted from the novel of the same name by Taylor Adams. Many of the film’s tenser moments feel like they may have played better on the page than they do on the screen.
Adaptations of novels often have to lean on characterization and thematic elements in order to translate the story. No Exit leaves a lot to be desired in this department. Darby’s issues with addiction and her family are often thrown to the side to keep the plot moving forward. There are some brief flashes of why she ended up where she did, but much like other scenes, it feels like this was likely explored more in Adams’ novel.
Despite its stylistic shortcomings, the performances are overall solid, with Havana Rose Liu lending Darby some real emotional heft. Dennis Haysbert, playing something of an elder statesman among the trapped drivers, ably rides the line between mild-mannered and commanding. Ramirez also does a great job in playing a character so opposed to what viewers might have seen from him in his Marvel role.
Though No Exit falls into a bit of a rut for much of its second act, it almost makes up for it with a climax that sees the film stop pulling its punches and lean hard into R-rated violence. Viewers who may have been expecting more to happen throughout the story may come to find that the story saves much of its most exciting, unexpected, and shocking moments for its final minutes. It’s almost reminiscent of how Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood Went from a shaggy, day-in-the-life type of story to a crescendo of blood and flamethrowers, though it almost feels more jarring here.
No Exit is far from perfect, but there are elements that make it a better movie than it might have been. Its lean, efficient storytelling keeps everything moving at a good pace, even if that sometimes means sacrificing deeper thematic elements. Its small cast does an admirable job in anchoring the movie, and there are some real surprises in the final minutes. Overall, this is about the quality one might expect from a movie that goes straight to Hulu, though it is somewhat more entertaining than most direct-to-streaming fare. Viewers can do a lot worse than No Exit, but truthfully, they can also do a lot better.
No Exit is available to stream on Hulu and Disney Plus.
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