No Exit is a surprisingly taut (and sometimes viscous) little thriller that came out of nowhere (or, you know, Hulu) and surprised me. I was really all set to give it an even more surprisingly high score until the final act added a few too many moving pieces. But still a pretty smart, economical film.
The movie stars Havana Rose Liu as a woman caught in a snow storm in the middle of nowhere. She takes refuge in a community center where four other strangers have sheltered. Then she discovers a little girl kidnapped in the back of a van and has to figure out which of these strangers is the villain.
The tension in this film is real. It’s a very well directed, tightly paced, very well acted suspense thriller. I was very pleased by the mystery and of the surprise reveals peppered throughout. It’s also got a mean bone about it… some pretty harsh and bloody moments that raise the fear and desperation (without being too gory).
Havana Rose Liu is very good here. I couldn’t place her at first but she looked very familiar. A quick lookup and she was also in The Sky is Everywhere from just earlier this month (aka February 2022). I didn’t love that film but I thought she was fresh and appealing. She pulls off a different, more rugged lead performance here. I look forward to seeing more from her.
She’s joined by a few other recognizable actors, the most obvious being Dennis Haysbert. Can’t go wrong with him (and his commanding voice).
Unfortunately, I think the final act just goes on about ten to fifteen minutes too long and introduces too much ado. It starts to lose credibility/believability but mainly it saps the film’s tension as different people run in different directions, the bodies start to stack up, guns get traded, etc. I think if they’d just ended it at a more reasonable spot, the film’s whole suspension of disbelief could have been maintained.
Still, it’s a very good thriller with a fine sense of pacing otherwise. Very good acting and a good sense of mystery and desperation. It came as a real surprise to me. I recommend this one.
Score: 84