No Exit

An average 90's-style thriller. During a winter storm, the main character is forced to stop at an isolated rest area with four other strangers. She encounters a kidnapped child in the parking lot and the problems start. I quite like thrillers with the theme of one place, a group of strangers, someone hiding something, but unfortunately they reveal that too soon here and the film lacks a proper twist or shocking revelation, as it did in the iconic Identity. Acting-wise I wasn't too impressed with, the film is visually, there is minimal violence (it needed more characters and definitely more savagery), but the nail-biter was more or less pleasing, you don't see that every day. It's relatively OK for one viewing on a dull evening, but in no genre level is the film satisfying enough to stand out from its counterparts. Story 3/5, Action 2/5, Humor 0/5, Violence 3/5, Fun 3/5 Music 2/5, Visuals 3/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Suspense 3/5, Emotion 2/5, Actors 3/5. 5.5/10. (02/28/2022)

The villain is resolved very early, with an hour to go and you just wonder what else they're going to fill that small space with? What follows are random situations that make absolutely no sense, and then the climax comes. Another twist that sends the whole thing into a tailspin. It's popular these days to say that even AI could have written it better. But I'm afraid even AI has its integrity and wouldn't let this kind of stupid stuff out. Otherwise, I have to tip my hat to the filmmakers - the entire film takes place in a snowstorm in some truck stop, and you almost don't even realize that 99% of the film was shot in a studio (while outside the temperature was 30 degrees in the shade), with artificial snow, a house built just for the purpose of filming, and artificial trees all around. That's where the WETA guys are really unbeatable. The creation of a false reality is the only interesting thing about the film, one of those cases where the circumstances of the filming trump the film itself. (01/07/2024)