Out of Exile

Had the pleasure of watching this on the big screen. Kyle Kauwika Harris nailed it once again. The cast all played perfect parts that I feel were made for them. Hats off to the entire team that put this together. The movie touches on so many complex subjects of why each person is going down the path they are on. Whether it be childhood trauma, broken brother bonds, PTSD and the effects of war, love, friendship, hate, fear, wanting a better life, children. The characters have their reasons, sometimes surprising you on how deep those reasons run. The writing makes you feel this and root for the "bad guy". Best independent film to come out of Oklahoma in a long time. Bravo, everyone!

I really enjoyed this. Many twists and turns and the characters are developed nicely. Great performances from the cast. I think the writer/director did an amazing job bringing this story to life. I have watched this movie four times. A good reminder that every choice we make in life will cause a reaction.

There are some memorable lines in this movie and a cameo from Jake the Snake Roberts. I loved seeing him in this.

Adam Hampton and Kyle Jacob Henry bring the heat and Mark Adam Goff has a great performance as well.

Memorable performances from the entire cast.

I highly recommend watching this.

I had not heard about this 2022 crime thriller titled "Out of Exile" from writer and director Kyle Kauwike Harris prior to stumbling upon it here in 2023. And of course I opted to watch it, on account of it being a movie that I hadn't already seen.

And while "Out of Exile" was watchable, it was ultimately a rather generic crime thriller. The movie offered nothing extraordinary to the genre that hasn't been done or seen in other movies before it. Now, don't get me wrong here, because "Out of Exile" is a fair enough movie and certainly is watchable for a single viewing, just take into consideration that it is a generic movie.

Of all the cast members in this movie, I was only familiar with Peter Greene. And looking through the cast members here on IMDb, I am surprised to see that former wrester Jake "The Snake" Roberts was in the movie as well, I couldn't recognize him on the screen at all.

The storyline in "Out of Exile" was adequate, just a shame that the movie was run page by page from the 'how to make a crime thriller' handbook.

Watchable and enjoyable for what it was, "Out of Exile" is adequate for a single viewing. There is not enough meat on the storyline to support more than a single viewing though.

My rating of "Out of Exile" lands on a five out of ten stars.

Nothing original here. It's a recycled regurgitated story we've seen over and over again.

The sound editing is choppy and inconsistent. Especially during the stripper scene using crisp new dollar bills?!!

Actors acting and overacting. The bouncing camera gets tired and nauseating especially during the garage scene. At this point it's no longer watchable. The news reporter during the bar scene was awful and the bar fight argument was so over the top over or under acting it's hard to tell. Mixed with the bouncing camera is nauseating.

It's officially unwatchable at this point.

For a highschool or first year film school it would get a 4 or 5/10 at best. The script and story is tired. I can't even social media with it on in the background.

The high rating reviews are extremely exaggerated just like the acting.

I love a good cops & robbers thriller with a splash of heist action and Kyle Kauwika Harris 's Out Of Exile is just the ticket. Set against the backdrop of both the Oklahoma law enforcement and criminal underworld scene, it tells of paroled ex-con Gabriel (Adam Hampton) taking on scores to provide a better life for his daughter and resolute FBI agent Solomon (Ryan Merriman) who is determined to take him and his crew down, while also doing right by his own family. Gabriel works under the behest, intel and malevolent watch of underworld boss Whitman Rader, played by the always amazing Peter Greene in one of the meatiest, most memorably evil roles he's gotten in quite sometime. I love a crime film where the lines of what we perceive as morality are purposefully blurred until there is no discernible 'good or bad', just people in tough situations making impossible choices and living with the consequences, or dying with them. This is a taut, ruthlessly tense action picture with shootouts, bullet wounds and hand to hand combat that feels heavy, realistic and brutal. Hampton brings a harried, soulful quality and formidable physicality to his role, you believe this guy's fortitude in his goals and feel every agonizing thing go wrong alongside him every step of the way, until the final hauntingly ambiguous beat to his character arc. The supporting performances are all solidly intense, with Greene being the standout he usually is as an absolute snake and the last guy you'd want bankrolling your operation, even throwing in a subtle yet noticeable reference to his Usual Suspects character, who was also a fence. Director Harris has a feel for hard hitting action, bluntly profane real-world dialogue and uses a nervy, darkly ambient score by Corey Perschbacher to accent his action in high style. I am reminded of John Hillcoat's woefully underrated cops & robbers flick Triple 9 here, both this and that have a poetically melancholic, downbeat, almost noir emotional and atmospheric vernacular in the best possible way. Highly recommended.