No Exit is now streaming on Hulu! Is it worth a watch?

No Exit is based on the 2017 novel of the same name by Taylor Adams. Newcomer Havana Rose Luigets plays Darby Thorne, a college student dealing with sobriety in a rehab center. There she receives a call saying that her mother is hospitalized. Darby decides to escape the rehab center to see her mother in Salt Lake City. On her way there, a severe snowstorm happens.  Her only option is to wait at a rest stop until it’s safe to continue her trip. There she meets a group of unique people. Darby discovers a child who has been kidnapped in a car belonging to one of the people inside the rest area. Darby goes on a journey to help the child which leads to an unexpected plot twist.

What was meant to be a theatrical release, directed by Damien Power and a screenplay by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari, is an inauspicious thriller. With a simple plot that moves at a quick pace, the film pulls you in many different directions. At the beginning of the film, Darby is at the center of it all but then the film soon moves to other characters that are flat in delivery. Power attempts to develop them in a scene while playing the card game “Bullshit” but ends up failing with thoughless dialogue. What is fun about the film are the many plot twists that occur after Darby knows about the kidnapping. Havana is convincing and likable even though we don’t know too much of her story. It’s noticeable that the creative team wanted to put more effort and importance on the element of suspense than really focusing on Darby’s history with her family and her drug addiction. The film definitely is a pleaser with its over-the-top “oh shit!” or “wait, what?” moments than anything else. It’s a fun escape from reality.

No Exit is a great example that not everything should be a theatrical release. With only one face I recognized while watching, it definitely feels like a film that belongs on a streaming platform or like old days “a straight-to-video” release. The suspense is there, but that’s it. By the third act, the film becomes what feels like a “hell breaks loose” chaos with bloody deaths. You spend an hour and a half with Darby and sadly by the end of the movie, she ends up at the same place where the film started. Some surprises you will have to see.

No Exit is fun and entertaining, but viewers might feel like the mystery is easy to solve and also very predictable. Viewers will want Darby to continue in the snowstorm and perhaps wish that she went through a series of different events. 6.5/10

No Exit is available to stream on Hulu.