No Exit - A Hulu Movie Review

Be careful. Any one of these people could be the kidnapper.

No Exit is a 2022 Hulu film based on the novel written by Taylor Adams. Escaping from rehab, Darcy has no choice but to stop at a local visitors center to escape the blizzard. During her stay, she discovers that a little girl is being held hostage inside a van.

Wow, did I have this movie all wrong! I watched this white-knuckle film alone while I was away for the weekend. No Exit is tense, well-acted, and has some of the best well-directed twists that I have seen in a long time. You never know what you can overcome until testing your courage.

We don’t know a lot about Darcy. Sometimes we don’t have to in a movie like this. Still, I wish we could have known more about Darcy to really care about her. She is one action-packed hero, that is. Havana Rose Liu was outstanding in this role. Having been through personal dilemmas, Darcy shows viewers survival skills.

You don’t know who you can trust in No Exit. Danny Ramires, David Rysdahl, Dennis Haysbert, and Dale Dickey were wonderful. They were well together as an ensemble, especially in dialogue sequences.

Aside from an iconic appearance in Allstate commercials, I have seen Haysbert in one other film. I am looking forward to seeing him in more films because he is a talented actor.

Mila Harris gave an excellent performance. For a young actress, she did an outstanding job, especially in the dark subject matter of this film.

The film took some time to get into. Some aspects involving the story of the characters could have been stronger. For instance, the villains. I won’t give too much away, but one of the actors playing the villains was too over the top. They copied a lot of the Harry and Marv dynamic. Plus, they said one another's names in every exchange.

Once the film got into the story, it is suspenseful. I was on the edge of my seat. Here I was thinking that it was going to be a predictable film with bland characters. Be warned, No Exit is violent. Some of the violence was overdone. It became hooked on violence over the story. There’s this one scene that is so unbearably agonizing. You feel the pain.

I have never read the story on which the film is based, so I don’t know if it’s entirely accurate. The story was predictable but it got me with some good twists. One twist near the end felt overdone. Overall, Damien Power made No Exit a suspenseful thriller. Studying the story, he accomplished ominous camera angles.

You can feel the frigid temperatures. I like when films do that. Isolated settings make for good horror movie settings. The pacing was done well, particularly once we arrived at the visitor setting. Although it’s meant to be a safe place there is an ambiguous terror looming in the air. Power succeeded in the threatening atmosphere of the story.

The beginning could have been trimmed down. Did we have to see scenes with Darcy in the addict center? It plays into the moral but it was forgotten once the mystery began. Did we need all the family drama? The kidnapping scenario is never given a full reason of intent either. It all could have been implied.

You’re in for a suspenseful ride if you watch No Exit. Put it on your list if you’re in search of a new thriller. Find No Exit on Hulu and watch it.