Oppa's K pop knowledge is expanding. A year ago, he only knew Son Ye Jin and Song Hye Kyo. He later on became addicted with IU (he still is, judging by the number of IU pillows scattered around our house). And now he's also into SNSD/ Girls' Generation. He's been wanting to watch Exit allegedly because it has our favorite funny guy, Jo Jung Seok (Hospital Playlist). Turns out he had an ulterior motive. Haha. Because the film's female lead is Lim Yoona (Im Yoon Ah), an SNSD member. :D
Plot
The story's simple. There's a toxic gas terrorist attack near the Central Station that paralyzes the surrounding areas. One of the buildings near the site is Cloud Garden, a convention hall/events place.
At the time of the attack, Yong Nam's (Jo Jung Seok) family was in Cloud Garden to celebrate his mom's (Ko Du Shim of My Mister, High Society, and The Snow Queen) 70th birthday. Although the place was far from their home, Yong Nam specifically chose it because that was where Ui Joo (Lim Yoon A) worked.
Yong Nam and Ui Joo belonged to the same rock climbing club in their university several years ago. He confessed his feelings for her but he was rejected. He was hoping he could show off and win her over this time. But the terrorist attack intervened.
The movie takes us through Yong Nam and Ui Joo's quest in finding that exit to escape the poisonous gas surrounding them.
Execution
We already know that Jo Jung Seok is funny. And because of that, we were quite wary of watching him in a comedy action film because we couldn't quite imagine him doing action. Surprisingly, however, he pulled it off. He was credible to watch doing those stunts, especially the climbing scenes. Now we wonder if there's anything Jo Jung Seok can't do. He's funny, he can do action, he plays the guitar really well, and he's a good singer too (with a pretty wife (Gummy), if I may add). Just need to watch him do drama to complete the package. :)
Prior to this movie, I had very limited knowledge of Lim Yoon A. I just remembered Oppa playing one of her songs and I liked it. So I didn't really have any expectations coming into this film. Or to be more accurate, I just had my preconceived notion that K pop idols are all cutesy. So I was pleasantly surprised to see a popular idol getting all rough and dirty and still looking so natural at it. She didn't seem to mind that she didn't look flattering in most of her scenes. And while there was very limited opportunity for Yoon A to showcase her acting skills here, she looked credible doing the action stuff. I liked the way she ran. Her form was so nice. Oppa says we have to watch more of her movies/dramas. And there's one with Hyun Bin so I'm looking forward to that. :)
If you want to appreciate this movie, then don't expect it to be something serious, profound, or flawlessly logical. I believe the movie was meant to entertain and if that's the case, then it achieved its purpose.
The film's energy is so high with super high energy probably around 75% of the time. Oppa and I were talking that it must have been super exhausting to shoot this film because of all the shouting, jumping, climbing, and running. What's even more amazing was that even the older actors kept up with the energy of the younger ones.
It was also nice to see some familiar faces like Kim Ji Young (Extreme Job), Lee Bong Ryun (A Taxi Driver and Reply 1994), Bae Yoo Ram (Reply 1988 and The Producers), Yoo Su Bin (Start-Up, Crash Landing on You, and Prison Playbook), Kim Kang Hoon (Start-Up and Hotel Del Luna), Lee Dong Hwi (Extreme Job and Reply 1988), and Bae Hae Sun (Hotel Del Luna and Start-Up).
Although I would have wanted the film to give us a full resolution of the terrorist attack issue (was the terrorist arrested?) and probably a bit more logic (like how all those drones found Yong Nam and Ui Joo before the rescue helicopters did), I was still fairly happy with the film. I was entertained (even shouting during some of the more thrilling parts). And more importantly, Oppa was able to watch Lim Yoon A and we have now completed watching the three highest grossing Korean films in 2019 (Extreme Job, Parasite, and Exit).
Oppa says...4.
Noona says...it's a 4.