Exit 8 (2025)

Our life experience in this world condensed into a beautiful cinematic exhibition

This is my first review for MDL, so please be kind with me 😊

I stumbled upon this movie by chance, but I am very grateful to know that this "type" of movie exists. I know this is based on the video game "The Exit 8" but it is unlike any other movies based on games. This has lots of esoteric symbolism. Everything in this movie has a meaning. I mean, everything! Hidden in plain sight.

Cinematography and directing are tight and very interesting, to the point that we as the audience can feel that we are involved in finding the "anomalies" and making decisions (I found myself shouting "move ahead!", or "no! go back!") basically becoming part of the movie. We just don't watch passively. I'm not familiar with Genki Kawamura's other works (the director of this movie), but will be sure to check out more from him. Top-notch screenwriting as well.

The entire cast' acting is amazing, especially the main lead, Kazunari Ninomiya. It's one of his best performances. A cameo appearance by Nana Komatsu is also a welcome addition and perfect for the role (because she's now a mother, right?).

Now, what makes this movie perfect is not the production, but the hidden meaning behind all the esoteric symbolism, because it can help us in finding the realization. It is up to us to find the subtle clues by paying attention to the details of our surroundings, and then make meaningful connections (This poster represents one thing, that "walking man" represents another, the boy represents that, and so on and so forth).

Once we are able to make a connection about that whole experience of being "stuck in the loop" actually represents our life in this world, this movie can help us to exit this matrix. All we need to do is to keep moving and pay attention to our surroundings (see the signs, anomalies, glitches in the matrix, etc.), not get distracted by things this world offers — like things that are not essential or needed for our escape, also to persevere and be patient on our journey, and to not repeating the same pattern of mistakes again that can make us to regret. Those are the values brought up in the movie.

Simply said, this is ultimately the best movie in years. Of course, only "those who get it will get it, and those who don't won't", but even if you don't seem to get it, just pay attention and be patient in watching the movie (patience is required, as in living a life in this world) — then try to make a connection to your life. Your life may not be the same again.

Good luck in finding the exit!!

10/10

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Perfect Movie yet many questions (with theories)

partly spoilers at the end, however I'll note again. My theories and answers to open questions are at the end.
I haven't played the game tho I know about from social media and I know about the movie from social media. Didn't think I'd be excited to watch it as movies about games usually are mostly flops or just overhyped. But the hype here is relatively non-existent (perhaps because it didn't enter western markets yet or so I assume)

However I finally decided to watch it (language barrier yet I was able to understand most of it) and it was really good. For the length it's a very good movie and has great rewatch value (though exciting things probably made the movie better)

I know some things from the game as I watched the gameplay a month ago or so when I saw the trailer for the movie, therefore it was even more exciting.. So my first suggestion is to watch the gameplay to know at least some anomalies etc.. However this shouldn't turn you away as there practically isn't any anomaly from the game copied 1:1, instead just some that are similar to the game's anonalies. So I praise their efforts for investing time in making new anomalies though I think that's given. The plot itself is very good and it isn't that scary at all, however some CGI or editing things whatever they use nowadays looked very very cheap so that's something that couldve gone better (or I just have high standards) but it didn't ruin the plot at all. The camera setting and cinematography in general is perfect like they match the game's vibe a lot and were used very efficiently. The music is very basic yet creates another atmosphere every time though it was very misleading very often.

Spoiler section!!:

I mean the monster rats, I think they would've been actually scary if they looked realistic or something. Because after all the movie isn't scary at all but at least they didn't use jumpscares to artificially blow up its scariness.. But after all the game itself isn't really scary, though it's known as horror game. Perhaps the idea of being stuck in a never-ending loop is the scary thing.

There are some things that bug me here, especially the kid. It seems like it's the child of his girlfriend and therefore his child too, however not born yet. I thougth its an anomaly at first too, and kept thinking so for a while, because after all in the game there is an anomaly where the sign continues to show 0 until you turn back again, I thougth that was the case here.

I didn't like the story of the running man or the walking man because it made me thinking they'd just skip characters and that this movie has no meaningful ending, because why would you just skip the ML at the most exciting part? and the man really wasnt more than a plot filler, the anomaly of the wrong ending is in the game too, that's like the only anomaly they've copied 1:1, because even the "blood tsunami" wasn't a blood tsunami here.

What's bugging me more is that the child could hear the ML scream when he already passed (as we could see in the child's POV for short) but in the end he couldn't hear the ML approaching even though there were just like a dozen seconds apart?
What I didn't understand was the part where the anomaly was everything being yellow, did this mean it was radioactive or something because he seemingly had an asthma attack but that and his reaction might've just been because of him experiencing this as this probably was his lowest point in the movie.
We can notice a huge development of the ML which is too huge in my opinion, first of all its visible by him not needing the asthma spray anymore and second of all his behavior in general. Of course the development might be symbolic e.g. him protecting a child etc but like he seemed very insecure in the beginning and was about to lose it so the development was too quick, perhaps the length of the movie contributed to this.

The ending already seemed off, I already thougth the exit was wrong. Perhaps it's a new wrong exit anomaly, because the ending in the game is different too. It doesn't end at 8 but you have to do the 8th round again, to pass. I think the ML didn't do the 8th round and the entrance with the number 8 on the sign appeared right after he finished 7 where there was no anomaly. So level 8 itself was an anomaly and he just reentered the loop without knowing,

OR he did know or did not know but still wanted to reenter the game to find the boy, because after all why did he board the train again if his initial goal was to head home I guess, why would he board the same train?
After I rewatched the beginning to check something (I forgot what I wanted to check but it was still worth it to rewatch the beginning). In the beginning the scenes are practically the same (as they were just recycled in the ending when switched to POV lol) however what I noticed is that when he scrolled on his phone at the beginning some anomalies were there like I saw the giant rat with the human ear and the beach he dreamed from. Furthermore, I think when we are able to see him through the reflections of the door's windows we can see that he doesn't wear a bag (or its straps aren't visible because they are really similar colours to his jacket). This either was a film mistake or intentionally to show that the ending and the beginning are practically the same, as his bag isn't visible until the POV switches.

So my main theory is that the guy is aware of being stuck in a loop and perhaps boarded the same train to reenter the place to look for the boy. After all a call with his girlfriend was already an anomaly, and both times, so when he was stuck in the exit and at the end, there were baby screams coming from the phone even tho I assume the baby wasn't born yet as there were none at the beginning. But if you have other information I missed because of the language barrier feel free to correct me.

However as already said this movie was very great and blew my expectations, will we get to see a second movie (not necessary tbh) where the ML is still looking for the boy? If the boy is his child I still don't know why he wasn't an anomaly.. For a monent I thougth the ML would've died in the tsunami and the boy survived, which could make sense as the FL already is pregnant and the boy could come to existence by exiting. However my biggest fear was that the FL would've lost contact to him (as he died in the loop) right after she told him she's pregnant which would've probably led to even worse things.

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