NO EXIT (2022) – Review

If you’re thinking, “I’m so so sick of Winter with all the wind, snow, and icy blasts of frigid air! I need a sunny beach!”, then this flick may not be the cinematic escape. Perhaps the dessert backdrop of DEATH ON THE NILE may be “just the ticket”. But if you’re in the mood for another “whodunit”, then perhaps this new flick may test your “Poirot aspirations. Ah, but as I mentioned earlier it’s a “chiller” in more ways than one. And a “thriller”. Though it also places us in the main character’s quandry and “moral panic”. This story’s heroine must make a choice whether to risk her life (and put aside a family crisis) to intervene when the uncaring tundra-like landscape offers NO EXIT.

The tale’s unlikely (and sometimes unlikable) heroine is Darby (Havana Rose Liu) who we first see enduring another “group session” at a “court-ordered” detox facility. She’s fed up with this “halfway house’ with its condescending counselors and its “fulla’ BS” residents. But the monotony is broken when a nurse tells her that she’s got an important call, a big emergency (otherwise “no contact” with the outside). It’s from a family friend with dire news: her mother’s at “death’s door” in a Salt Lake City” Hospital. Darby implores the staff to release her, but they can’t unless her doctor gives the okay. But it’s Friday afternoon and he’s unreachable till Monday. Later that night, after her pleads are ignored, Darby gets a hidden phone from another “patient/inmate”, grabs some tools, charges through the front doors, and hotwires a nurse’s car. Things are looking rough on the highway as a fierce blizzard begins. Darby’s quick nap on the shoulder of a side road is interrupted by a state trooper. Is her trip over? Does he know that she stole the car? Luckily he’s only concerned for her safety since all the roads are shut down. The trooper insists that she head over to the nearby rest stop that he’s opened up. There Darby meets a quartet of stranded travelers: long-time couple Sandi (Dale Dickey) and gambling buff Ed (Dennis Haysbert), twitchy awkward Lars (David Rhysdahl), and affable hunk Ash (Danny Ramirez). Before they all “hunker down” for the night (and for the roads to be cleared) Darby heads back outside in search of “bars” for her phone. She hears a noise in the parking lot and peers into one of the vehicles. The horrific sight forces the recovering drug addict into the role of sleuth/rescuer. But does she have the courage to do what must be done?

The impact of the story’s many twists and turns hinges on the character of Darby, expertly portrayed by the talented Liu who many of us first saw on screen last year as Bea in the offbeat MAYDAY. Here’s she’s more than up to the challenge of Darby, who we first meet as an angry abrasive twentysomething, resentful of those around her, but really furious at herself, perhaps thinking herself weak for nearly drowning in addiction. Through her eyes and more confident manner, we see that the “urgent call” is more of a “wake-up call” to her, snapping Darby out of her emotional lethargy. Her new inner light burns its brightest after her “discovery’ at the rest stop, with Liu frantically trying to piece together a clue to the culprit and a way to become the hero that was dormant inside her. The biggest “name” actor in the cast is probably Haysbert, who appears to enjoy playing against his usual somber, stoic “commander’ roles as the engaging, but also dealing with addiction (gambling’s pretty destructive too), veteran Ed. His “grounding support’ is the concerned and caring Laurie played subtly by Dickie, who ably handles the character’s major “turnabouts” and whims. Rhysdahl as Lars gives the often cliche “quiet loner” an interesting spin as the “wild card’ that may or may not be the “red herring’ of the mystery. On the “flip-side” Ramirez as Ash ably essays the “aid-back sensitive self-effacing boyfriend-material” (his first lin after waking from a nap:”Was I snoring? I bet I was!”) who is much more than he appears. Kudos also to a very gifted young actress Mila Harris as Jay, who helps kick the plot into “high gear”.

Giving this tight, taut modern noir a lot of energy and crisp pacing is director Damien Power, indeed displaying lots of power in his second feature film. In the opening minutes, we think we’re getting a character study, a struggle with sobriety, but then Power takes a sharp turn into crime thriller territory, almost giving us a bit of whiplash as the story veers into even darker subject matter. Much of these moods shifts must be credited to screenwriters Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari (ANT-MAN AND THE WASP…really) who adapted the Taylor Adams novel. Though much of the action occurs within the shack-like rest area, the right amount of claustrophobia is established. The characters can still leave, but it never seems to be as though the makers want to “open it up” (like a certain train Poirot flick a few years ago). “Going out” may appear to be an “escape route”, but the constant arctic wind (you may shiver by suggestion) proves a most “unsafe space”, along with the snow that provides footprint clues to your locale making everybody a prisoner of the elements. Another gripping touch are the sudden bursts of brutal violence that really ‘stay’ with those “inflicted”, which often makes us wince in empathy. Coupled with the evolving mystery that slowly unfolds makes this tale of redemption and recovery a true “nail-biter”.It’s certainly well worth taking a turn and getting off the main multiplex highway for NO EXIT, a true no “frills” chiller (brrrr) thriller.

3 out of 4

NO EXIT is now streaming exclusively on Hulu