Locked, 2025.
Directed by David Yarovesky.
Starring Bill Skarsgård, Anthony Hopkins, Ashley Cartwright, Michael Eklund, and Navid Charkhi.
SYNOPSIS:
A thief breaking into a luxury SUV realizes that he has slipped into a sophisticated game of psychological horror.
Bill Skarsgård’s down-on-his-luck common man, Eddie, is in a pickle. He’s an unreliable father to the point that his significant other is fed up with it. However, Eddie seems to care about his daughter genuinely. He mostly lets her down because he is wrapped up trying to accomplish something else, hoping he appears less of a deadbeat when he comes into contact with her. One such example is his consistent failure to pick her up after school, which has become a problem due to his car needing repairs that he can’t afford yet. This final straw pushes him into desperation mode, lowering himself to attempted delivery from a parked, open SUV, which will lock itself upon entry, hence the title Locked.
From director David Yarovesky and a screenplay by Michael Arlen Ross (based on the 2019 film 4 x 4 from Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat), that premise becomes a vessel for a cross between what feels like an extended Saw trap and class warfare exchanges (which I suppose is also a theme of that franchise). Not only is there nothing worth stealing and pawning from the SUV, but there is now no way out. Eddie also finds out the hard way that the windows are made of bulletproof glass, with a bullet reflecting into his leg.
Shortly after, the vehicle’s computer system turns on, gracing us with the voice of an angry, deranged Anthony Hopkins playing justice-seeking William. Sounding like a boomer relative that has watched too much Fox News, William goes off about differences between the generations and how, once upon a time, you could leave a car or even a home unlocked without having to worry someone would break in, whether it be for purely malicious reasons or desperation to lift some cash and put it toward a more noble, honorable life taking care of loved ones. William also has no sympathy for the latter, delivering some right-wing talking points regarding how not complaining and working hard paid off for him.
Eddie is also forced into listening to this ranting and raving, as William can remotely taze his prisoner and does so often, especially if he starts swearing. He can also alter the temperature of the SUV should more dramatic measures be taken. Since this terrorizing takes place over several days, William also uses the security cameras in the car to visit when Eddie is asleep, slipping in some water or bandaging his leg wound without waking him. Presumably, the filmmakers know how ridiculous that is since it is kept offscreen.
This is also a limiting premise, meaning Locked occasionally feels like its talking points and torture methods are going in circles. When these two aren’t conversing, Eddie is either searching yet again for an escape path or swearing up a storm. For the first 40 minutes, he shows almost no interest in hearing William out, which is understandable given the circumstances yet also frustrating since it’s clear he has no other option. It’s as if the movie is dragging itself out before it can really get underway.
Once the car is forced into motion, William’s psychopathic behavior ramps up, resulting in a couple of thrilling moments here. Still, much of this feels like a waiting game for that character to let his guard down somehow, likely through Anthony Hopkins appearing on screen and finding a convoluted reason to get into the car. And even though the film paints him as the villain, the film’s politics questionably are comfortable backing him up through Eddie having purchased a winning scratch-off lottery ticket before entering the SUV, implying that he deserves this deathtrap terror for making a mistake during a vulnerable, desperate moment. This isn’t a justification for stealing, but an observation that the screenplay sides with some of William’s dated beliefs on society that all hard work is magically rewarded.
At a certain point, Locked is too absurd to take seriously while also taking itself too seriously, never able to find the right balance. It devolves into clichés and predictable action beats, only elevated by star power (where else are you going to see Bill Skarsgård not slathered in prosthetics and using his real voice or Anthony Hopkins making his best Jigsaw impression). It never fully locks the viewer in.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association, Critics Choice Association, and Online Film Critics Society. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews and follow my BlueSky or Letterboxd
