[Review XN] EXIT (2019)

"Earthquakes, tsunamis, those aren't the only types of disaster. Our current situation itself is a disaster. "

Normally, I hate hearing human voices the most when movie screenings are taking place in theaters. Especially if the film being watched requires concentration, contemplation, or feelings from the audience in order to enter the world of filmmakers' creation. I really want to pout the mouth of the annoying cherry! But when I watched CJ Entertainment's latest presentation that placed itself in the action comedy genre, Exit, I felt very relieved when I realized that I was surrounded by reactive audiences rather than shy. Throughout the duration of the melody, there is a variety of chatter sliding from the people around reads: 1) "Mas, mas, mas, atiiii ....", 2) "O Allah, O Rabbi, astaghfirullah ...", to 3) "oh dear , oh dear, aaaaa ... aaaaa ... sik, sik sik, don't jump, don't jump. "And since the film debut directing from Lee Sang-geun is indeed on the path of escapism that requires audience participation, then watching with a living crowd is a blessing because can thicken the excitement that it carries. Sometimes I giggled at the boisterous cheers of the audience, but more often, laughter was triggered by a series of ridiculousness offered by Exit. A film that repeatedly put me in a happy phase because of the humor and difficulty in exhaling with tension.

In Exit, Lee Sang-geun does not introduce us to a protagonist who meets the criteria of being a perfect hero. On the other hand, the protagonist named Yong-nam (Jo Jung-suk) is an unemployed man who often spends his time lazing around and relying completely on his parents to make ends meet. Other than skills in the field of rock climbing, there is almost nothing to be proud of Yong-nam. Even his nephew is embarrassed to admit he is an uncle! Yong-nam, who is well aware that he is nothing more than a loser, tries to make a big impression for the extended family by holding his mother's birthday at a luxury building called Dream Garden. Besides trying to make her happy, Yong-nam apparently kept another agenda which was to meet again with her sweetheart during college, Eui-joo (Im Yoon-ah), who worked there. For a moment, the birthday program and the small reunion were proceeding properly ... until then a truck released poisonous gas throughout Seoul. In order to avoid exposure to gas that can kill humans instantly, the invited guests also chose to stay inside the building and wait to be rescued by the SAR team. But when the gas starts moving up, Yong-nam's ability in rock climbing is immediately needed to save those trapped inside the building.

For me, Exit is a spectacle that gives the definition of the word "exciting". Imagine, since the opening minutes, the filmmaker has conditioned the audience to be tethered to their processed offerings by launching a series of stomach-shaking humor. These humor put Yong-nam as the main character as the target. This is possible because Yong-nam has never been married and has never found a well-established job even though he graduated from university many years ago. As stated directly by him, his day-to-day work was just "sleeping, eating, sleeping, sleeping." As a result, all the laughter the audience got in the first half revolved around Yong-nam's reluctance as unemployment as well as jomlo. Sounds very classic, indeed. But since Jo Jung-suk was blessed with awesome comic timings, I don't mind. Moreover, the culture that undermines the happiness of the protagonist is not much different from the culture in this country. I also could not laugh at the fate of Yong-nam which is more or less reminiscent of myself in one phase. Heartbreaking and funny at the same time. After the preliminary round which tends to be ridiculous, Exit slowly but surely begins to increase its intensity when he turns the wheel into the realm of disaster film. A poisonous gas spread throughout the city, creating chaos, and the only way out was through the roof. When the gas moves upward, one question arises: how much time is left for these humans before they are finally exposed to the gas?

From here the film moves in a direction that I had never expected before. Rather than "we get out of this building and survive!", Lee Sang-geun chose to increase the tension by placing more bets on the characters. They have to chase white gas, they also have to hit it ... outside the building. Yes, instead of circling in one place, the filmmaker forced the protagonists to tour various locations in order to conquer the "challenge". They were asked to hang, they were asked to climb, and they were asked to jump. My admiration for Lee Sang-geun's capability surfaced when he was able to maintain intensity throughout the duration of the play. Counted from the release of poisonous gas, the audience did not have much chance to breathe a sigh of relief. There are times when I hear screams and laughter from other audience, there are times when the screams are accompanied by panic. They panicked if the duo Yong-nam and Eui-joo failed to reach their final goal: quarantine. The willingness of the audience to sympathize and then give support to these characters can be achieved because Lee Sang-geun is willing to give time for an introduction to the stomach-shaking mode in the preliminaries. From there, we find out who the Yong-nam family's personnel turned out to be oh also had the opportunity to contribute to the storytelling instead of being left as a mere hooray team. Besides that, the audience also knows what the characteristics of Yong-nam are actually commonly found around us. Maybe it's us, maybe it's our brother, maybe it's our friend. Yes, Yong-nam is a human being, as is Eui-joo who is sometimes shown crying in fear.

Armed with affection, the audience feels involved in the film. The audience is positioned as a large family Yong-nam who cheers and thumps at the same time when seeing Yong-nam struggling to find a way out through television broadcasts. The good chemistry formed between Jo Jung-suk and Im Yoon-ah also makes it easy for us to pay attention to their destiny. Whether they become invented or not, that's a later affair. The important thing now is, they must be able to free themselves from all this chaos. And when a film can make its audience pay attention to the characters, that's when we know that the film has succeeded. Exit clearly succeeded. Not only managed to ignite the concern, but also managed to make a big laugh, then the eyes filled with tears when the film is about family problems, and heartbreak! Gosh ... I was so relieved when the film finally ended. Can breathe again, brothers and sisters ...

Outstanding ( 4 / 5 )