After Bong Joon-ho’s PARASITE (2019) sets the world on fire, culminating in the 2020 Oscar ceremony, South Korean cinema has instantly become a hotspot for international cinephiles, and EXIT, the debut feature of Lee Sang-geun makes for another persuasive entrant to uphold its high standard of steadily hammering out worthwhile genre crowd-pleasers.
EXIT germinates from a boilerplate blueprint of a disaster movie, when one district of Seoul is shrouded by pestilent gas, released by a vengeful, disaffected scientist, the family of Yong-nam (Jo) happens to celebrate his mother Hyeon-ok’s (Ko) 70th birthday in a restaurant there, a former rock climber, Yong-nam has to lead everyone to the roof top of the building before the rapidly ascending gas reaches them, so that they can be medevacked by rescuing helicopters. After a strenuous shinning endeavor, this mission is almost accomplished, save that Yong-nam chooses to stay with Eui-joo (Im), the waitress of the restaurant, also a rock climber, with whom he is infatuated and who has roundly turned down his courtship, when there isn’t enough room for all the evacuees.
Without the rowdy inference of its secondary players, the movie confidently jinks into an assertive paso doble, with Yong-nam and Eui-joo are bundled together to stay alive and get rescued, running against time to reach the apex of the area’s concatenated buildings, at the same time, EXIT builds a palpable if downplayed affirmation mostly from Eui-joo’s point of view, who grows impressed and moved by Yong-nam’s intrepidity and their crescent trust in extremis eventually sublimates into something more intimate and affecting, plus it is a comedy through and through, which makes it a rare bedfellow with an action flick of surviving a havoc.
Also EXIT doesn’t at all betray Lee’s greenness, the entire narrative is lean and taut, without unnecessary trimmings, the opening calisthenics implies Yong-nam’s admirable brawn and stamina, and his put-upon, nebbish characteristics align with the typical definition of a “loser”, only to be revoked later when he redeems himself as an echt “hero”, as trite as it sounds, at least the film doesn’t toot its own horn, even though altruistic gesture must be presented in one critical moment.
The embellishment of webcasts and the cardinal involvement of UAVs reflects Lee’s acumen to offer a platform to current technology, and latter is put into good use, so is a stunning foggy nightscape created by its FX team creates, also the two leads are engaging and spunky to earn our undivided attention, but the core of EXIT is still a time-honored second-chance meet-cute between two beautiful, good-hearted people (gladly, a girl is no longer a damsel in distress but an equal enabler) who accidentally chances a gripping egress out of harm’s way in this pleasurable urban tell tale.
referential entries: Kim Byung-woo’s THE TERROR LIVE (2013, 6.9/10); Bong Joon-ho’s PARASITE (2019, 8.0/10).
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