No Exit

 

No Exit

Starring Havana Rose Liu, Danny Ramirez, David Rysdahl, Dale Dickey

Directed by Damien Power

Agatha Christie popularized the "whodunit" genre of novels, creating the iconic Hercule Poirot in novels like Death on the Nile and Murder on the Orient Express where he investigates a murder with a slew of suspects who all had equal motive. You never knew who the killer was until the big reveal, after piecing together all the minuscule clues left dangling around, and that was the most entertaining part of reading them. While both of those novels have been made into big-budget films, other films - most notably Rian Johnson's amazing "Knives Out" - continued in that tradition. "No Exit" is a smaller, independent film that doesn't have the same budget, but uses its one location and smaller cast of characters to still weave an interesting - if not generic - whodunit caper.

Darby Thorne (Havana Rose Liu) is a recovering drug addict living in a rehab clinic when she learns her mother is in the hospital, and she escapes the clinic to get to her. While on the road in an intense blizzard, she finds that the road is impassible and takes refuge at a visitor center. There she meets couple Ed (Dennis Haysbert) and Sandi (Dale Dickey), along with Ash (Danny Ramirez) and Lars (David Rysdahl), and is upset that she has no Internet or phone connection that high in the mountains and with the blizzard outside. While trying to find cell phone bars, she discovers Jay (Mila Harris), a young girl tied up in a parked van, and realizes that someone in the visitor center is a kidnapper. With no one to trust, Darby has to find a way to rescue Jay and find out who's responsible before she's the next victim.

Director Damien Power utilizes his bleak budget to try and produce something that's compelling and thought-provoking, and even though it's based on the popular novel by Taylor Adams, there isn't a lot of excitement to be had in this film. The kidnapper is revealed rather early, and the remainder of the film consists of the generic tropes of mistrust, attempts at escape, fails at escape, making stupid decisions, near-misses, threats, and the like. The setting really saves the film, though, as having it take place in a visitor center in the middle of a blizzard really raises the stakes, since they can't get away by car and there's no cell reception. Yet it's also a detriment, as I was often thinking that the kidnapper could've easily just killed everyone and waited for the storm to pass to leave before anyone else arrived (which I chalk up to the "making stupid decisions" trope), but then again the movie would've been only about thirty minutes long.

While the kidnapper is revealed before the middle act, there's still more story to be told, and there's some fascinating twists and turns that help hold your attention for some fleeting moments before it devolves back into generic one-note moments. It really amps up near the end, but by that time I just wanted it to end already because as the film maintained its predictable trajectory, you knew how it would all turn out in the end.

The cast of characters are fine in their respective roles, with some standing out more than others. Havana Rose Liu holds it all together as Darby, the main character who deduces what's happening (sometimes too late) and only wants to get to her ailing mother, as well as save the innocent child. Even though she's a former drug addict, her character isn't the one-dimensional kind you'd expect, but she showcases a unique strength that you don't expect. The rest of the cast plays to their suspect roles (Ramirez's Ash is the brooding attractive guy, Rysdahl's Lars is the reclusive loner, Dickey's Sandi is the doting wife, and Haysbert is the former Marine), and they all perform well.

The group gets to know each other over a game of "Bullshit" (which I can't wait to play in real life), and that's the most intense moment because it's after Darby discovers the girl in the truck, and uses the get-to-know-you game to deduce who the kidnapper is. There's some other moments that stand out, but one that's kind of a weird trajectory to what seemingly is the film's main focus, and for a moment took me entirely out of the film and laugh at the sheer absurdity of it. It reminded me of this scene from "American Dad:"



While the story is typical and the setting is unique, there's some decent moments thrown throughout that keeps your interest when it starts to wane, even though they're few and far between.

The Score: C+