Earlier than my screening of “Locked,” director David Yarovesky (“Brightburn,” “Nightbooks”) made a shock look to thank the press and the particular visitors in attendance, as this is able to be his first time watching the film with a crowd exterior of pals and colleagues. “After I began making this film, I can’t let you know how many individuals stated ‘Oh cool, that is completely a streaming film,’ […] so it is surreal as a result of if you stroll into an AMC and see it up on the display like this, you do not know that it is a tiny indie film.” And he is proper. “Locked” is the kind of indie thriller that was a movie show’s bread and butter — low-budget/high-return seat-fillers like Kurt Russell’s “Breakdown” or the Jeff Bridges and Tommy Lee Jones automobile, “Blown Away” — that are actually instantly dumped onto a streamer and misplaced to the void of algorithms. It is stated usually within the wake of the trade’s pivot to relying on massive franchises whose success is kneecapped by irresponsibly big budgets, however they actually do not make ’em like this anymore.
Fortuitously, “Locked” is a reminder of a bygone period, for good and unhealthy. The newest addition to the canon of “White Folks Did What? They Acquired Caught The place?” subgenre of movies (coined by Nirupam Dhakal aka HugeAsMammoth) “Locked” sees Invoice Skarsgård buying and selling in his Depend Orlok mustache for a Pete Davidson makeover to play Eddie, a petty felony who shortly realizes he is damaged into the unsuitable luxurious automobile after he finds himself trapped inside a boobytrapped automobile owned by a person named William (performed by Sir Anthony Hopkins). This probably lethal automobile can solely exist because of a ludicrously rich octogenarian with a Soiled Harry-shaped chip on his shoulder and means an excessive amount of time on his arms.
Produced by horror legend Sam Raimi and a remake of the Argentinian movie “4×4,” your mileage might fluctuate with “Locked,” an intimate piece with devoted performances and a weirdly relatable thematic core, however thrills leaving a lot to be desired.
Locked is each too restrained and too excessive
As soon as Eddie is within the fancy, one-of-a-kind Dolus (it is a modified Land Rover), the movie has to seek out methods to creatively preserve watching one man trapped in a automobile an entertaining expertise. For essentially the most half, “Locked” is profitable. In contrast to “4×4,” the movie features a collection of safety cameras that sometimes let the viewers see Eddie from William’s perspective, but it surely usually feels distracting and interrupts the stress being constructed fantastically from Skarsgård’s efficiency. Through the years he is confirmed to be one of the vital endlessly watchable performers, so disrupting his movement turns into irritating.
Moreover irritating is the movie’s restraint concerning its social politics. Each Eddie and William interact in debates about systemic neglect, the failures of the felony justice system, poverty, and generational divides, but it surely would not swing onerous sufficient. Comparability is the thief of pleasure, however “4×4” expands the battle outward and brings the talk to the streets (actually), whereas “Locked” retains it firmly interpersonal between William and Eddie. The automobile acts as a microcosm of society, however by protecting it so intimate, it additionally loses the nuance of how difficult these conversations can turn into when factoring within the actuality that social teams should not monolithic. Contemplating the present political local weather, the sanitization usually left me feeling as if the movie irresponsibly dealt with such severe themes.
However on the identical time, “Locked” is a reasonably unserious film [complimentary], with over-the-top violence and some scenes of shockingly graphic gore that can shortly remind the viewers that this can be a Sam Raimi manufacturing. It is right here that the film actually picks up steam, with a terrifying chase scene that includes William remotely controlling the automobile to search out Eddie’s younger daughter on her means house from college serving because the stand-out set piece of your entire movie. The stress is so efficient that you simply neglect that moments earlier, we needed to hearken to Hopkins weaponize the phrase “triggered.”
Had the movie embraced its gonzo facet extra and dedicated absolutely to political satire exploitation, this might have had the potential to be a sleeper hit. As a lot because it pains me to say it, “Locked” feels destined to be the longer term recipient of a /Movie article with a title like “This Forgotten 2025 Thriller is Discovering a New Life on Netflix” (like this one), regardless of it being, all issues thought of, a reasonably enjoyable time on the motion pictures.
Anthony Hopkins will get his kicks tormenting Invoice Skarsgård
“Locked” lives and dies by the performances of a trapped-in-the automobile Invoice Skarsgård and the taunting voice of Anthony Hopkins over the automobile’s audio system, and it is evident that the 2 are having an absolute blast. Hopkins’ William particularly seems like he is genuinely having a area day tazing Skarsgård’s Eddie anytime he drops an f-bomb, and Skarsgård effortlessly convinces the viewers that he is one unsuitable transfer away from being killed for your entire runtime. When Hopkins lastly exhibits up within the flesh, it is a welcome reminder that not solely is he the most effective to ever do it, however being just a few years shy of 90 hasn’t slowed him down a bit.
However surprisingly, the stress of the movie is undercut a bit by how troublesome it’s to narrate to William. Whereas Eddie is, on paper, the one within the “unsuitable” for breaking into the automobile, within the present American local weather, it is unattainable to see him as something aside from the sufferer. William is the embodiment of rich outdated folks complaining in regards to the neighborhood altering on NextDoor, and even when it is revealed that he suffered a tragic loss by the hands of criminals who went unpunished, it is onerous to not assume, “Previous males will actually flip an costly automobile right into a ‘Noticed’ lure as an alternative of going to remedy, huh?” No less than with Jigsaw, we understood his crimes to be a last-ditch effort. William is simply sociopathic because of failing to cope with his personal trauma. His choice to torture Eddie is not focused at him, particularly. He is as an alternative forcing this random man to bear the brunt of his misdirected anger. William skilled a tragic loss as a result of systemic failures of our authorities and judicial system, and as an alternative of remembering who the actual enemy is, has determined to make it anybody he views as lesser-than’s private downside. And therein lies the true energy of “Locked.”
Aren’t all of us simply “poor folks caught within the wealthy man’s boobytrapped automobile with no management over our environment” of life?
/Movie Ranking: 4 out of 10
“Locked” opens in theaters on March 21, 2025.
