Out of Exile

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.

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.

Out of Exile is garbage. It immediately reeks of streaming-level quality. I thought about quitting 15 minutes in. I should have. Every aspect of this movie is bad.

The acting (and overacting) are the easiest giveaway. The story seems like it was written by artificial intelligence, copying parts of other movies of the genre. The "action" scenes are useless. The only good thing I can think of is it was able to get me invested in the lead character and his relationship with his daughter. Otherwise, it's pretty much a waste of time.

Streaming services are ruining my love for movies. I would guess somewhere around 90% are terrible, 9% are mediocre, and 1% are actually good. I think going forward I will only watch theatrical movies unless I hear multiple recommendations for a streaming movie. (1 viewing, 3/26/2023)

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.

This is a very well-made film. (solid acting, directing and story) I was pleasantly surprised by this film. Good storyline about bank robbers in TX. The movie did an excellent job of keeping consistent pace and the acting was pretty good. Also, I appreciated the fact that it had more character development and was a slow burn that did not feel slow. Directing and story-line well-made, and the twists and turns in the movie were effective and with purpose. I would actually recommend watching this one if you like a good thriller that has a nice storyline to it. Excellent work here and would like to see more like these.