diff --git a/src/molecule/provisioner/ansible_playbook.py b/src/molecule/provisioner/ansible_playbook.py
index aec4ec4170..af20f8e638 100644
--- a/src/molecule/provisioner/ansible_playbook.py
+++ b/src/molecule/provisioner/ansible_playbook.py
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 """Ansible-Playbook Provisioner Module."""
 
 import logging
+import shlex
 import warnings
 
 from molecule import util
@@ -116,8 +117,10 @@ def execute(self, action_args=None):
             result = util.run_command(self._ansible_command, debug=self._config.debug)
 
         if result.returncode != 0:
+            from rich.markup import escape
+
             util.sysexit_with_message(
-                f"Ansible return code was {result.returncode}, command was: {result.args}",
+                f"Ansible return code was {result.returncode}, command was: [dim]{escape(shlex.join(result.args))}[/dim]",
                 result.returncode,
                 warns=warns,
             )
diff --git a/src/molecule/util.py b/src/molecule/util.py
index f486eee323..ff7d5aeffd 100644
--- a/src/molecule/util.py
+++ b/src/molecule/util.py
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ def sysexit_with_message(
     if detail:
         detail_str = safe_dump(detail) if isinstance(detail, dict) else str(detail)
         print(detail_str)
-    LOG.critical(msg)
+    LOG.critical(msg, extra={"highlighter": False})
 
     for warn in warns:
         LOG.warning(warn.__dict__["message"].args[0])