We love Anthony Hopkins and Bill Skarsgård. They are great actors who happen to belong to an elite club of iconic horror movie characters (plus they have both done different Dracula movies as hero and villain respectively).
Hollywood must have been on cloud nine when they got a chance to put them together in Locked, a movie directed by David Yarovesky; the genius behind the gory superhero film Brightburn (2019). But Locked doesn’t burn as brightly as that film even though the spark is there—it just sort of fizzles.
The movie is already dead in the water theatrically. But it might do better as a home-watch anyway. It opens only in theaters on March 21, the same day as Disney’s also-doomed live action remake of Snow White. Why they didn’t allow Locked to go directly to streaming is unbelievable. What’s going on in Hollywood?
Let’s see if I can break this film down. Skarsgård plays Eddie, a down on his luck thief and father who breaks into a luxury SUV with customized leather seats and a bluetooth computer dashboard controlled by the voice of Anthony Hopkins who owns the car and traps him inside.
When Eddie tries to escape, we find out this tricked-out SUV is a trap; it has been fitted with unbreakable glass, and an electrified carriage that severely shocks Eddie when he tries to jimmy the locks, or disrespect Hopkins.
It’s an interesting premise that could have been better had the script picked a lane. This film goes from a discussion-heavy dialogue about class and privilege to a dull action revenge movie and finally a morality play. This film is like a jigsaw puzzle that contains only edge pieces—-there’s nothing in the middle. Skarsgård and Hopkins play off of each other in a bout of timely verbal sparring equivalent of something from Saw and that gives it some structure.
It’s obvious that the screenwriter Michael Arlen Ross had big ideas for Locked and Yarovesky was willing to meet him beat for beat, especially since he had Sam Raimi as a producer.
But this movie is based on a much better Argentinian film called 4X4. That film didn’t use electrified seats or action sequences to tell its story, it’s just about a thief who tried stealing the wrong car owned by a psychopath who locks him in and communicates with him through the car’s smart screen. It takes place in one location. The movie was made in response to the country’s high crime rate: what if a criminal is forced to take accountability by literally being trapped inside his crime? It’s more about survival than ethics.
The best thing about Locked is Skarsgård. Just like last year’s The Crow you can’t criticize his acting, he wasn’t the problem. He isn’t the problem in Locked either. Hopkins shows up doing a loose impression of his own Hannibal Lector, but for the most part their chemistry saves the film.
What’s wrong with Locked is that they remade yet another perfectly good foreign film and put it through the Hollywood flow chart by adding an illogical self-driving vehicle with booby traps, a silly action finale, and an unnecessary redemption arc. We get it, thieves are bad.
In the original, the ending has the vehicle owner take the thief hostage at gunpoint in the city streets to the cheers of the locals tired of the crime wave, all while the police try to negotiate the thief’s release. Locked takes a completely different derivative approach.
Locked is fun, but it isn’t as profound as it pretends to be, and more importantly it’s Raimi–lite. There are a few darkly-lit mild gore sequences but they feel out of place.
If you’re curious about this one you can watch the superior Argentinian original free on Prime (trailer below). It may not have the Hollywood excessiveness but it does have heart. Sometimes Hollywood doesn’t know how to keep it simple.
With strong performances by Anthony Hopkins and Bill Skarsgård, Locked is like the Uber of situational thrillers. With that service, you get what you ordered, but the driver made a few stops along the way and your food isn’t as fresh as it should be when it finally arrives.