No Exit – A Dull and Generic Drag Thriller

When it comes to film, there are certain genres that have become so crowded that plots more or less meld together over time. There are so many thrillers that after a while, many of them just feel the same. That being said, the genre continues to find a decent amount of success in spite of that because a large portion of viewers enjoy being on the edge of their seats. No Exit, the latest Star/Hulu original film, is yet another generic, platform-padding, thriller that is unlikely to leave viewers on the edge of their seats. A short watch, clocking in at around the 90 minute mark, the film brings absolutely nothing new whatsoever to the table. Thin and dull for the most part, the film provides little to no reason for viewers to be on the edge of their seat or even care. Predictable at every turn, it’s tough to get engaged with anything that happens here but it arguably tries way too hard to get viewers to care by manufacturing emotion that its script or direction failed to do at any point.

No Exit follows a young woman named Darby (Liu) whose substance abuse and attitude issues made her the black sheep in her family. Nevertheless, a family emergency thrust her into action as she embarked on a journey to see her ailing mother. Little did she know, she would have to make that trek through a snowstorm. Eventually, that storm made things far too treacherous for her therefore she was forced to take shelter within a rest stop alongside a group of strangers. Unsurprisingly, this was where the fun truly began as Darby’s new circumstances may not quite have been what they seemed as she stumbled onto an abducted girl bound in a van belonging to one of said strangers. Trapped with an alleged abductor, it was up to her to figure out their identity in order to save the girl and herself before it was too late.

From there, No Exit drags its feet with a slow burn of a story that literally goes nowhere as it awkwardly stumbles between a redemption arc for Darby and the mystery behind the girl in the van while never going particularly deep with either. Surely a plot device to increase tension, the snowstorm proved to be a frustrating plot device that simply slowed down the proceedings. Meanwhile, the other characters were uninteresting and essentially useless towards that redemption arc or mystery. All of this makes for a testing watch that will feel longer than its aforementioned short running time at times. Throwing a few too many twists and turns along the way that should not come as a shock to anyone who has ever seen a thriller, the stakes ramped up as the plot got increasingly ridiculous as layers were peeled away from the other strangers in the rest stop. However, the awkward lead-up lessened its overall impact, assuming no one has tuned out by then.

In the end, the best part of No Exit was Liu’s performance as Darby, the only character on the precipice of being interesting. The dialog did not do anyone any favors. Seeing actors such as Haysbert and Dickey, who played Ed and Sandi respectively, relegated to the background was just sad. Ultimately, the film will live or die on the connection between Darby and viewers. Though some will connect with her on an emotional level, it never quite did enough to seal that connection.

At the end of the day, No Exit is a film that will mean different things for different viewers. Its simplicity was both a gift and a curse but either way, it needed to do more.

 still courtesy of 20th Century Studios

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.