No Exit – Hulu Review (2/5)

NO EXIT on Hulu is a new thriller with many familiar faces. And also, a plot that feels strangely familiar. Even though it isn’t. Still, I did feel that I kept waiting for a twist that never came. Read our full No Exit (2022) movie review here!

NO EXIT is a new Hulu thriller that should draw in many viewers due to its cast. Also, it’s a mystery thriller with elements of horror. Something that always seems to hit a sweet spot with many viewers. Myself included.

Still, I couldn’t help but feel that I was watching something very familiar. It just kept evolving in ways where I was waiting for the real twist to happen. Instead of the very forced and strange developments that just felt off. That just never came which resulted in a quite lackluster ending. For me, anyway.

Continue reading our No Exit movie review below and find it on Hulu.

I thought I had it figured out

Admittedly, I got a distinct Identity (2003) vibe from the thriller which did not hold true. So don’t think you’ve got it all figured out. I kept waiting for a plot twist similar to that from Identity since the circumstances felt so damn similar.

Instead, unfortunately, it offers many plot twists that feel desperately forced. A real shame with such a good cast!

So, while I kept waiting for a twist that never came, the many twists that did come along, did not work for me. At all really. It almost felt like the further along the plot went, the more we moved in the opposite direction of all the things that were working.

Havana Rose Liu stars

The absolute star of No Exit on Hulu is Havana Rose Liu as Darby. She plays a character, not unlike Zendaya’s Emmy award-winning “Rue” from Euphoria (2019-). Or well, a very light version of that character. And I do not blame Havana Rose Liu for that, because she delivers a strong performance. The writing just isn’t there.

You might recognize Havana Rose Liu from the Netflix series The Chair starring Sandra Oh. Also, she’s in the new Apple TV+ original film The Sky is Everywhere (2022).

WHAT TO WATCH ON APPLE TV+

We are strongly recommending checking out the Severance series on Apple TV+ right now >

Also starring in No Exit are Dale Dickey (True Blood, Unbelievable) and Dennis Haysbert (24, Secret Obsession) as a married couple. Along with David Rysdahl, Danny Ramirez, and Mila Harris. All deliver solid performances, but the screenplay really doesn’t give them the best of conditions.

Watch No Exit on Hulu

Damien Power is the director of No Exit and his feature film debut was a movie we really enjoyed. It was the brilliant (and creepy as hell) horror-thriller Killing Ground (2016). That also means that No Exit is just his second feature film, while he has done quite a lot of short films.

For Killing Ground, he also wrote the screenplay and I hope he’ll be able to direct and write his next movie as well. The end result is so much better. Even though I can’t find any real faults with the directing of this movie. The issues are definitely with the screenplay.

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Do check out the horror-thriller Killing Ground from 2016 – full review here >

And the screenplay for No Exit is based on a novel by Taylor Adams. I haven’t read the novel so I can’t say how direct the adaption is. However, the screenplay was written by Andrew Barrer (Haunt [2013]) and Gabriel Ferrari. The two also worked on Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) together.

Finally, Scott Frank is also on board as a writer. He has written on amazing movies such as Minority Report (2002) and Logan (2017). And also Netflix series like The Queen’s Gambit and Godless. In other words, some amazing writers have been attached. Yet, the final result is a quite lackluster movie.

It’s not bad. Not at all. It’s just a movie you watch and then forget. That in itself is a shame. Especially given the subjects covered which include child trafficking, drug abuse, and gambling.

No Exit is out on Hulu in the US from February 25, 2022. In other countries, it will be out on Disney+.

Details

Director: Damien Power
Script: Taylor Adams, Andrew Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari
Stars: Havana Rose Liu, Danny Ramirez, David Rysdahl, Mila Harris, Dennis Haysbert, Dale Dickey