Locked is mainly like Phone Booth (2002), but where the mechanic souped it up with a little Saw (2004) while trying to breathe in the fumes of Collateral (2004), and with movies these days, that feels like a solid mix by someone who watched a ton of underrated titles from the early ‘00s. It’s a simple concept: what if our subject was stuck in a vehicle they tried to steal, and halfway through, that SUV began to move with murderous intent? What makes the thriller work is that it stays in its lane and never puts the pedal down fully.
This is a movie with decent characters made much better by the solid acting. Bill Skarsgård plays Eddie Barrish, our unfortunate car thief. The role initially went to Glen Powell, who I prefer as an actor. However, this seems like an archetype that suits Skarsgård more. His look works for this character, and Bill’s frustrations feel legit, but sometimes his voice trails off, and he tends to mumble, so only a handful of the lines sound just right. On the other hand, Anthony Hopkinson makes William sound incredibly refined and charming, a sophisticated supervillain worthy of a better advisory. A few of his lines are perfect, and he seemed to have fun saying stuff like “Tough titty” and questioning what Gummy Bears were.
When we meet Eddie, he’s a douche in a pink hoodie, a deadbeat dad who vapes and has “Anger is a gift” tattooed on his back. It’s around the time that he’s buying lottery tickets with stolen money (when he should be saving up to get his van back or apologizing more to his daughter) that we realize any sort of redemption arc he could go through would feel undeserved. He does offer to work, as Eddie’s good with cars – an important point for later – and he wants to do better by his daughter and baby mama, but it’s always too little or way late. Eddie is also the type who steals; he carries a gun, but only for protection because at least he’s not a killer. As expected, he has the most advancement. I think most people will come around on Eddie when he shows exactly how much he would have sacrificed for his child, but as is often the case with characters like this, we’re left wondering if they learned something or if they only look like they did because they got caught.
William, on the other hand, is a doctor, a respected man from Wales, but someone who has been pushed too far – his car has been broken in six times by this point – and a recent tragedy has convinced him to take justice into his own hands. It doesn’t hurt that his time is running out due to a little prostate cancer, once again reminding me of Jigsaw. The police won’t do anything about crimes like this, so he’ll use his advanced wealth and intellect to cure this sickness, even if it means a little torture and murder in the end. William doesn’t see himself as the psychopath at first, he’s just a voice on the other end having fun changing the temperatures and playing annoying tunes, or shocking his prey because they keep cursing. Later he takes a more hands-on approach and seems accepting that he actually finds doing this one-sided game of cat and mouse “fun.”
The two characters are very different in backgrounds and upbringing, academic schooling versus street smarts, and their conversations about music, classical literature, and life lead to something of an argument about class systems. At first, their debate is about who makes the rules, privilege, rich versus poor, and by the end, it’s an argument with yelling and both men acting somewhat petulant. Their ride around the city doubles down on this, talking about good people living in fear, but William quickly loses the audience’s sympathy by running over two criminals, toying with one before he kills him, and involving Eddie’s daughter in the festivities.
The end of Locked feels satisfying and stays the course, not involving too many other people or feeling like it needs some elaborate conclusion or grand twist. By the finale, we have Eddie laughing like the Joker, calling William a wannabe Batman for his particular brand of justice, and our main character going from this advanced death trap to one of the most old and dependable things on the road without a hint of technology. Everything feels warranted.
It’s almost middle of the road in some ways but in a positive manner. There are so many of these films in which someone is trapped in a room or held hostage by an antagonist who feels they need to have some over-the-top plan or endgame. Locked keeps it simple. People are unlikely to remember this for too long afterward, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a success.
There are a few small problems that are easily ignored by it being a movie. Soundproofing doesn’t work quite like that – though we get a couple of nice, eerily quiet moments – bulletproof glass isn’t magical, and the remote driving is almost unrealistically precise. Also, weirdly, the car radio says it’s playing certain songs it isn’t, either because the titles are wrong and they didn’t want to spend money changing it or couldn’t secure the licenses they thought they could.
Locked has a few genuinely funny lines, gross “drink my own urine” moments, people awkwardly eating Gummy Bears, and when the blood starts pouring or people die, they don’t skimp. Hell, my wife had to leave the room for that scene with the fingernail. This may be because Sami Raimi (and his company) has a production credit here. There are also some excellent shots, mostly of the city and urban environments, having the camera spin around the vehicle, but not to an annoying level. The movie is a remake of an Argentinian thriller called 4X4, with Locked being directed by David Yarovesky (Brightburn), and it feels like he handled it well.
Locked Review: Final Verdict
While it’s easy to be cynical toward movies that look like they’re expanding a simple concept too far, Locked set its destination and stuck with it. It’s a smooth ride that I’d recommend.
SCORE: 8/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 8 equates to “Great.” While there are a few minor issues, this score means that the art succeeds at its goal and leaves a memorable impact.
Disclosure: ComingSoon received a screening link for our Locked review.
