Mark Reviews Movies: NO EXIT (2022)

No Exit, 20th Century Studios

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Review by Mark Dujsik | February 25, 2022

The initial conceit of No Exit certainly has some promise. The rest of the movie makes one regret even having that thought.

As for the original idea behind it, the bulk of this story takes place at a secluded rest stop in the middle of a debilitating snow storm. There's a mystery to be solved, regarding an ongoing crime, and save for our protagonist, every other person taking shelter in the roadside sanctuary is a suspect.

The protagonist is Darby (Havana Rose Liu), who is currently a court-ordered resident at a rehab facility. We quickly learn that she's cynical, scathing, and observant, and when she receives a call that her mother is in the hospital because of a brain aneurysm, Darby shows how cunning and resourceful she can be, as well. Retrieving her cellphone and taking some tools from a storage room, Darby leaves the facility, steals an orderly's car, and hits the road to the hospital.

Her trip is soon stalled by that winter storm, forcing her off the interstate and, after a cop tells her to get off the roads completely, to that rest stop, located within the mountains and surrounded by some dense forest. Four other people are inside, but while trying to get a cell signal, Darby hears some noise coming from a van in the parking lot.

Inside the vehicle, with her mouth covered and hands tied up with tape, is a young girl (played by Mila Harris). Someone abducted the child, and that someone has to be one of those four people inside the confined space of the rest stop.

If most of this sounds neat, it kind of is—at first, at least. Screenwriters Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari, adapting Taylor Adams' novel of the same title, offer up some initial suspense in observing how these characters behave—what they do and don't do—and what they reveal—or don't reveal—in seemingly innocent, ordinary conversation. The stranded travelers and sudden suspects, in order of taking some interest in Darby, are former Marine Ed (Dennis Haysbert), his wife and retired nurse Sandi (Dale Dickey), a quiet guy listening to music named Lars (David Rysdahl), and the napping Ash (Danny Ramirez).

Ed proposes a game of poker to help pass the time, but Lars suggests a different card game that relies on deception. The five gather around a table, and Darby starts asking some mundane questions, which could point her in the direction of the kidnapper.

Here, any kind of direct plot descriptions need to cease, because, for some unknowable reason, the plot's entire, somewhat clever gimmick comes to an end. The kidnapper's identity is revealed, although, to be fair, that doesn't take much of a stretch of deductive powers to determine. Since the characters are so slim, the performances end up playing to the broad strokes of what each character's purpose in the plot is (It's a shock that none of the uninvolved parties suspects the child-abductor of doing something illegal, just because of how over-the-top the actor's performance is). Without giving away the other and pretty obvious levels of the central mystery, that's an unforced error on the part of director Damien Power, who might use a few too many unnecessary and telling reaction shots that give away parts of the game too early.

The director and actors are not helped, of course, by a script filled with assorted contrivances (The inconvenient absence of a cellphone signal, which would immediately put an end to the whole affair, is nothing compared to the layers of complications that keep the plot moving once that problem is resolved) and—let's generously call them—short-sighted characters, who seem to act only in ways that harm their goals but ensure that the conflict continues to escalate. A small-in-scope thriller such as this one only highlights all of its flaws in construction and logic, and this one has scenes that fall apart in the moment they're happening. A criminal, for example, doesn't seem to realize that there's a massive gap in available actions between yelling at someone and shooting that person, allowing that character to hilariously stare at the bad guy while slowly moving toward the villain's undoing.

The climax of No Exit is somehow dumber, but then again, this movie features a character whose intelligence seems to markedly improve by taking a nail to the forehead. Maybe the rest could have benefited from similar treatment. It surely couldn't have made this mess any worse.

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