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 might be his first time watching the film with a crowd exterior of associates and colleagues. “After I began making this film, I can not inform you how many individuals mentioned ‘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 screen 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 once 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 at the moment are instantly dumped onto a streamer and misplaced to the void of algorithms. It is mentioned usually within the wake of the business’s pivot to relying on huge franchises whose success is kneecapped by irresponsibly enormous budgets, however they actually do not make ’em like this anymore.
Happily, “Locked” is a reminder of a bygone period, for good and dangerous. The newest addition to the canon of “White Individuals Did What? They Received 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 prison who rapidly realizes he is damaged into the unsuitable luxurious automobile after he finds himself trapped within a boobytrapped automotive owned by a person named William (performed by Sir Anthony Hopkins). This probably lethal automobile can solely exist on account of a ludicrously rich octogenarian with a Soiled Harry-shaped chip on his shoulder and method 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 could 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 maintain watching one man trapped in a automotive an entertaining expertise. For essentially the most half, “Locked” is profitable. In contrast to “4×4,” the movie features a sequence of safety cameras that sometimes let the viewers see Eddie from William’s perspective, however it usually feels distracting and interrupts the stress being constructed fantastically from Skarsgård’s efficiency. Over time he is confirmed to be one of the crucial endlessly watchable performers, so disrupting his move 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 prison justice system, poverty, and generational divides, however it does not swing onerous sufficient. Comparability is the thief of pleasure, however “4×4” expands the battle outward and brings the controversy to the streets (actually), whereas “Locked” retains it firmly interpersonal between William and Eddie. The automotive acts as a microcosm of society, however by retaining it so intimate, it additionally loses the nuance of how difficult these conversations can change into when factoring within the actuality that social teams are usually not monolithic. Contemplating the present political local weather, the sanitization usually left me feeling as if the movie irresponsibly dealt with such critical themes.
However on the similar time, “Locked” is a fairly unserious film [complimentary], with over-the-top violence and some scenes of shockingly graphic gore that can rapidly remind the viewers that it is 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 automotive to search out Eddie’s younger daughter on her method residence from faculty serving because the stand-out set piece of your entire movie. The strain is so efficient that you simply overlook that moments earlier, we needed to take heed 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 fairly enjoyable time on the films.
Anthony Hopkins will get his kicks tormenting Invoice Skarsgård
“Locked” lives and dies by the performances of a trapped-in-the automotive 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 specifically feels like he is genuinely having a discipline 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 top-of-the-line to ever do it, however being just a few years shy of 90 hasn’t slowed him down a bit.
However unusually, 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 automotive, within the present American local weather, it is unattainable to see him as something apart from the sufferer. William is the embodiment of rich previous folks complaining concerning 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 automotive right into a ‘Noticed’ entice as an alternative of going to remedy, huh?” Not less than with Jigsaw, we understood his crimes to be a last-ditch effort. William is simply sociopathic on account 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 because of the systemic failures of our authorities and judicial system, and as an alternative of remembering who the true 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 automotive with no management over our environment” of life?
/Movie Score: 4 out of 10
“Locked” opens in theaters on March 21, 2025.
