Welcome back to Movie Recaps. Today I will show you an action, comedy film from 2019, titled
Exit. Spoilers ahead! Watch out and take care. Lee Yong-nam is a young man that lives with his
parents because he can't find a job no matter how many places he applies to. He used to be brilliant
back in college and a member of the climbing club, where he won many medals in competitions.
Nowadays however, he spends too much time on the pull-up bars at the park and is considered the
town's weirdo, and his nephew doesn't like being seen with him in public. Yong-nam still keeps
all his climbing equipment in his bedroom, which his sister Jung-hyun considers a waste of space.
For his mother's 70s birthday, the family wants to throw a big celebration, so Yong-nam convinces
them to do it at the Cloud Garden, which is far away from home but he's choosing it because
he knows his old crush and fellow climbing club member Eui-joo is working there and he hasn't seen
her since college. During the party, most family members make awkward questions about his life,
and when he finally finds Eui-joo, things get even more awkward. They leave the room to talk
in private, and Eui-joo expresses surprise at him being willing to chat, since she thought he's been
avoiding her since she turned him down many years ago when he asked her out. Yong-man denies this,
even if it's true, he also lies and tells her he didn't know she works there and that he works as a
manager in an important company, which surprises Eui-joo. Yong-nam's family keeps partying until
late, so Manager Goo tell the employees they can go home and not to worry because he and Eui-joo,
who is the vice-manager, can close up the place. He comes off as a nice, caring boss,
but in reality, he only has the position because he's the son of the owner, and without other
employees around, he can keep hitting on Eui-joo, who doesn't know how to make him understand she
isn't interested. Meanwhile, in a street nearby, a masked stranger badly parks a large truck and
breaks its key so nobody can move it later. Then he proceeds to open the truck's valves
to release its contents: an unknown toxic gas that soon begins spreading throughout the city,
killing every person that breathes it in. Chaos quickly takes over as people begin running for
safety, causing accidents in the way and therefore increasing panic. People at the Cloud Garden are
unaware this is happening. While Eui-joo is on the phone with a friend that tells her Yong-nam lied
to her, the family keeps on celebrating until a car crash outside sends a gas tank flying through
the window. Now scared, everyone runs outside, only to find the toxic gas spreading and about
to reach their block. Eui-joo rushes them all back inside, but Yong-nam stays a moment more
to find his sister, who had left to find her car. Jung-hyun arrives together with the gas,
so Yong-nam takes the risk and helps her right as she begins breathing the toxins. He manages to get
her inside before she inhales enough to die, but she's still in a bad condition and there is a rash
on her face. Yong-nam and Eui-joo look through the window to see the state of the city and notice the
gas is raising, so they try to get the family to run to the roof. Yong-nam's father, Jang-soo,
still doesn't understand how serious it is and would rather leave, but thankfully at that moment,
everyone gets on their phones an emergency message saying people should go to the highest available
points and wait for a helicopter to rescue them. The group starts running upstairs only to find
the door to the roof locked. Manager Goo doesn't have a key, so Eui-joo drags him and some family
members downstairs to the floors that haven't been reached by the gas yet to see if they can find it.
There's a tv on with a government employee explaining how to take precautions: gas masks
are good to prevent breathing this new toxic mist, but they only are good from ten to fifteen
minutes. Covering the body as much as possible is also necessary to avoid rashes and blisters.
The helicopters are going around rescuing people, but there's no need for citizens to flood them
with messages, they'll be rescued as they find them on the way, not in order of calling. Eui-joo
remembers the hotel had acquired three gas masks some time ago, but she can't find them because
Manager Goo has hidden them for himself as soon as he heard the announcement. He only takes them
out after Eui-joo leaves to find an alternative, so he can try and get one of the family members
to go down into the dangerous rooms to search for the key instead of himself or the woman he likes,
but none of the others wants to do it. Hearing that the roof door could be opened from outside,
Yong-nam gets an idea: he starts throwing things at the window until he breaks it,
then he asks Eui-joo for some rope he could use to climb the building and get the door. Eui-joo
gives her the rope together with a hook and some chalk for his hands, then Yong-man proceeds to
ignore his family's worry and pleas not to do it and jumps to the roof of the building next door.
He reaches the railing and slips, but luckily he manages to hold onto it and climb back.
After studying the Cloud Garden building to find good gripping points,
Yong-nam ties the rope to the roof he's on and jumps back to the Cloud Garden, holding himself
on the various nubs and decorations on the walls while one of his relatives records him
so the whole family can watch him on their phones. After dangerously climbing from nub
to nub and making his way around the building walls, he finds he can't reach the last section
because the rope is too short and is keeping him back, so he takes a risk and unhooks it,
which means nothing can keep him safe from falling now. Yong-nam continues to go up and,
as he remembers his college training, makes a hazardous jump to grab onto a lion head statue.
One of its fangs breaks, but Yong-nam manages to hold onto the other and make it up onto the roof.
Wasting no time, he hurries to open the door and let his family in, getting his mother to worry
about possible injuries but Jang-soo scolds him for putting himself in danger. A helicopter flies
by and they try to get its attention, but they aren't seen, so Eui-joo decides to try something
with their phones: she makes the family form an H and tap their phone screens to send an SOS signal,
hoping the next helicopter will see the flashing lights. Meanwhile, the news is revealing the story
behind the man that released the gas: the truck driver is a scientist and co-founder of a lab who
lost his mind after he was fired from his own company by the executives. The gas has a long
life even in small quantities and can spread at an incredibly fast speed. Yong-nam's family continues
to do their phone light show but it isn't working, so two of the cousins bring the karaoke microphone
and speaker to see if they can be heard. What finally gets the helicopter's attention however,
is Eui-joo making the Cloud Garden's street signs flicker. The rescuers allow the whole
family to get in except for one person because of the weight limit, and since Eui-joo is the one
staying behind, Yong-nam decides to stay with her and together they watch the helicopter fly away as
they begin to cry. After Yong-man promises Eui-joo that he'll get a good job after all this is over,
they keep trying to get the attention of various helicopters to no avail.
Seeing as the gas is raising inside their building too, they come up with a plan to leave the place.
They put on the masks Manage Goo had stolen and cover their entire bodies with plastic bags and
gloves, then they put as much rope and chalk as possible in a bag before going out to the streets
to try to find help. There's nobody around though, and the masks' lifespan is about to end, so they
enter a random building and get to the roof, only to discover the gas has arrived there as well.
Yong-man changes his mask for the last one they own and goes down into the subway station to
get a new one from the train that he brings back to Eui-joo, who has carefully climbed to higher
ground after taking a risk by taking off her gloves. At first she's mad at him thinking he
had abandoned her, but she quickly forgives him when she realizes he's been looking out for her.
They return to the streets and enter a building with floors that haven't been reached by the gas
yet, so they can take off their masks and plastic bag suits. However, the doors to the higher floors
are closed, so they'll have to reach the roof of the building next door, which is farther than the
ones they've been easily jumping onto. They take some weights from the gym they're in and tie them
to the rope so they can throw them across the gap and make them stay straight and tense for easier
and safer climbing. Eui-joo goes first since she's lighter and successfully makes it to the
other side. When Yong-man's turn comes however, things get complicated: the gas is reaching this
roof too because it's entered the ventilation system, so Yong-man goes back to retrieve the
masks and throws more rope with a heavier weight to be able to cross faster. In the meantime, it's
been discovered that water can dissolve the mist, so firemen have started to work on it, but it'll
take a while. Jang-soo and two more relatives pay a taxi extra money to take them near the disaster
zone so they can try to find Yong-man. There, they find two men working for a news station,
using a drone to enter the dangerous area and find something interesting to stream, so Jang-soo pays
them to find his son with it. Yong-nam and Eui-joo reach the roof of a new building, where there was
a market going before tragedy struck. There are a bunch of cardboard cutouts of people around,
so they put them together to make it seem like there are more of them that need rescuing as
they begin using their phone lights again to try to get the helicopters' attention.
Suddenly, they hear some screaming and realize that in the building across the street there are a
bunch of kids locked in a classroom. Eui-joo tries to indicate to them how to use the fire escape,
but a kid almost dies trying. A helicopter finally arrives then and starts coming closer to help
them, but Yong-nam and Eui-joo know they have to do what is right so they start pointing at
the kids. The rescuers don't get the idea, so to make it clear, the pair uses the cardboard
cutouts and even their own bodies to form an arrow on the floor pointing at the opposite building.
The helicopter gets the message and saves the kids instead, so now Yong-nam and Eui-joo get
ready to wait for another one, but this idea is soon discarded when they see a gas station blow up
in the distance, sending a wave of the toxic mist their way. Eui-joo points at a tower crane a few
blocks from there, deciding that's their safest bet, and they leave the building again. The pair
starts parkouring all over the city as the drone Jang-soo paid for finds them and follows them
around, recording their escape in their process. The news station puts them on tv and now everyone
in the country is following their progress and cheering for them, wanting them to make it to
safety. After climbing a building by using its advertising signs, Yong-nam and Eui-joo make it to
a roof that they can't get out of because it's too far away from the other buildings to jump, and at
the same time, the drone that has been following them falls because it runs out of battery.
Thinking this is their end, they begin crying, and Yong-nam apologizes to Eui-joo for having lied to
her, so they hug. Their little moment is suddenly interrupted by a buzzing sound and a bunch of
lights: it's a fleet of drones, sent by various citizens that want to help and keep on streaming
their adventure. Yong-nam gets an idea and draws it on the floor with chalk for a drone to see,
and it accepts to do it. The drone takes some rope and, after a couple of failed attempts, ties it to
a pipe on the opposite building, so now Yong-nam and Eui-joo can slide through it. Sadly, because
of their weight, they don't make it to the other side - instead, they get stuck in the middle. Not
only that, but their weight also causes the rope to start sliding off the pipe, so Eui-joo takes
some pliers from Yong-nam's bag and cuts the rope, hoping they can swing into the building
as a couple of Tarzans. At that moment though, the rope gets loose from the pipe and they fall.
Everyone watching the stream, which suddenly ends, thinks they're dead. The rescue helicopter still
makes its round just in case, but when they're about to leave, they see that Yong-nam and Eui-joo
have managed to reach the crane, so they quickly fly to them to finally rescue them. Once they're
taken to the safety area, Yong-nam reunites with his family with lots of tears involved,
and Eui-joo gets to call her parents to tell them she's ok. Manager Goo comes to see her then and
calls her by a petname she hates, so she hits him and turns him down for good. Afterward, Yong-nam
tries to give her back the hook she had lent him, but she tells him he can return it when they see
each other again. Looking forward to hanging out together in the future, the two of them smile at
each other while enjoying the rain that suddenly starts falling, cleaning the toxic gas away.