For many years now, the highly competitive domestic Korean film market shows a exponential growth. The Oscar winning streak of “Parasite” (2019) was one of the well-deserved results of this process. Celebrating its 101th birthday, the Korean film seems to be on its peak in terms of international recognition. “Parasite” gained a huge amount of attention and people start to turn their eyes to the foreign country. In 2019, “Parasite” had many other national competitors. For example the action thriller “The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil” starring Ma Dong-Seok and the historical blockbuster “The Battle: Roar to Victory” by Won Shin-Yun. Nevertheless, “Extreme Job” by Lee Byeong-Heon was the most successful film in Korean last year and outperformed “Parasite” with more than 16 Million moviegoers. It is more than surprising that Lee Sang-Geun's debut film “Exit” took the third place of Korea's movie market. Following the tradition of other apocalyptic Korean movies like “Pandora” (2016), “The Tower” (2012), or “Ashfall” (2019), the CJ Entertainment production evolves a story around a deadly gas attack that threatens the lives of Seoul's citizens.
“Exit” is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival 2020
During his mother's party in a luxurious sky scraper, the slacker Yong-nam (Cho Jung-Seok) meets his college crush Eui-Ju (Lim Yoona). But the reunion and the celebration are disrupted by a sudden gas attack and the newly reunited couple has to fight for survival. As the toxic dust rises, the family, guest, and lovers are desperately trying to escape.
The disaster movie starts in rather comical fashion by introducing the goofy character Yong-nam in an excellent manner. Cho Jung-seok fully merges into character and continues the solid performance from his earlier movies (“My Annoying Brother” 2016, “Intimate Strangers” 2018). Korean Idol Star Lim Yoona (Girls Generation) fights alongside Cho Jung-seok and has her first main role on the screen. Funny character portayal and slick camera shots by Kim Il-yeon (“Forgotten” 2017) give a promising outlook. But after 20 minutes there is a sudden 180 degree turn and all hell breaks loose.
An unmotivated terror attack is thrown into the plot to create a crisis situation. The nail-biting suspense in front of nicely choreographed mass scenes has a very low half-life. Endless climbing scenes, the missing background of the catastrophe, combined with a lame solution at the end create a scenario that does not catch the viewer. Here the characters also show their weaknesses. Over-dramatic acting that surely pleases a blockbuster crowd turn an ambitious movie into a chewy and cheeky drama. A crowd-pleaser for K-Pop fans, though.
Positive aspects are the use of drone technology, which is a nice gimmick. Also the soundtrack by the famous Korean composer Mowg, who did the scores for “Burning” (2018) and “I Saw the Devil” (2010), adds a special electronic vibe to the film.
“Exit” is a modern Korean disaster movie that tails off from the moment the main character shows his ability to be a hero. This could have been a very good romantic comedy with two brilliant lead actors and many laughs, but unfortunately the demand for suspense took over and Lee Sang-Geung does not perform well on this level. Similar to the Netflix production “Pandora” the disaster movie works well until the actual disaster happens.
