You’ve probably asked yourself, “What if they made a live action ‘Crazy Climber?’ “ I mean, who hasn’t? Well, guess what? They have. And while guys with planters have been replaced by rising poison gas, the idea is pretty much the same: two skilled climbers have to get to the highest point in Seoul to affix themselves to the random rescue helicopter that comes around every cycle. No word yet on if they get a free game afterwards.
Locally, Yong-Nam (Jung-suk Jo) is known as “IBM.” That’s “International Bar Man.” As nicknames go, it beats “IBS.” This thirtysomething has failed at pretty much everything that isn’t climbing and has taken to spending his free time showing off on playground “exercise” equipment. The kids make fun of him. Clearly, Yong needs a life.
Somewhere in Seoul, 90 minutes away from Yongsneck, lies the Dream Garden, a high end restaurant in a medium-sized building. Waitressing there is Yong’s would-be squeeze, Eui-Joo (Im Yoon-Ah), accomplished climber and accomplished rejecter. Yong plans mom’s 70th birthday at Dream Garden just so he can have another shot at rejection. Lucky for
him, an evil scientist has just released a poison gas cloud at Seoul ground level; that should eliminate the need for pathetic small talk.
The poison cloud spreads to permeate the city and slowly rises vertically. You can see where this is going, right? Yong-Nam and Eui-Joo will eventually be forced to employ an Exit strategy: rise vertically among city structures to stay ahead of the gas cloud. Who’d have guessed their relative skill sets would come in so handy as the city is under attack. Just watch out for King Kong or the vulture-thing that craps bean-bag chairs, dig?
Exit may not be the deepest film you’ve ever seen; it’s kinda stupid and clearly a video game in movie form, but this was one of my favorite times at the theater in 2019. The film knows humor and thrills and I bet the cast had a blast with the puzzle presented and the inventive solutions. I also loved, loved, loved the fact that the film stayed with the dilemma; it paid no attention whatsoever with the mad scientist. No American film would have done the same. We’d have Robert Downey Jr. or Clive Owen or some other high-powered fool steal focus by making the film about themselves. This film is about two random unheralded people living a televised adventure and overcoming their own mediocrity in the process. It’s a simple plot, but a noble one. Anything that shifts focus is a waste of time. I recommend this film to anybody who watches Die Hard at Christmastime.
In the city of Seoul there is wrong
Poison gas that doesn’t belong
Two forsake innuendo
As they play live Nintendo
Good thing it wasn’t Donkey Kong
Not Rated, 103 Minutes
Director: Sang Geun Lee
Writer: Sang Geun Lee
Genre: Crazy climbin’
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: That dude from Free Solo
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: People with no tolerance for thrillers or comedy
