I saw the MA15+ Rated
'LOCKED' this week, and this American action thriller film is Directed by David Yarovesky who made his feature film making debut with 2014's
'The Hive', and which he would follow up with
'Brightburn' in 2019 and
'Nightbooks' in 2021. This film is an English language remake of the 2019 Argentinian action thriller film
'4'x4', has generated mixed or average reviews and has so far grossed US$1.1M since its release in the US and here in Australia last week.
The film opens up with down on his luck small time criminal in an auto repair shop attempting to get his van back on the road, but with US$450 still owing on the repair job the owner of the shop tells him to get lost and come back when he has the funds to cover the cost of repairs. The guy sees a wallet on a nearby trolley and spies an opportunity, so he creates a scene involving a heavy set mechanic who man handles him forcing him back against the trolley, and with that the wallet is lifted. He promptly leaves saying he'll be back on Friday. Walking down the street his partner calls screaming down the phone saying why he didn't pick up their young daughter from school as planned. He apologises but his lame excuse falls on deaf ears. He removes a bunch of notes from the wallet, and then ditches it. He buys something to eat and three scratch cards. He then calls several 'associates' and asks them all to loan him some money, but they all hang up on him and soon as he says his name, Eddie.
And so Eddie (Bill Skarsgard) walks along the street surreptitiously pulling at car door handles in the hope that one of them will open. He comes across a public parking lot, in the middle of which is parked a very sleek looking black SUV, with the name DOLUS emblazoned in big lettering on the rear tail gate. He pulls at the drivers side door handle and it opens, much to his amazement. He climbs in, and quickly sets about exploring the interior for anything of value that he can steal. When all he finds is a pair of sunglasses he decides to exit, but the doors are all locked. He tries frantically pulling at every door handle but to no avail. He finds a tyre wrench in the rear and first tries to pull away the trim to the drivers side door but badly cuts his arm when reaching for the lock mechanism.
He then tries to smash the glass but its seems the glass is smash proof. He tries kicking out the window with both feet, but that's no good either. He then pulls out a revolver and shoots off one round at the window, and the bullet ricochets off the glass and straight into his lower leg. He writhes around in agony as blood pours onto the carpet. Then the phone rings with a message on the display saying 'Answer Me'. Eddie ignores it, until the caller rings off. It rings again, and again Eddie ignores it, and again, and again. Eventually Eddie answers the call. It is Friday evening.
The caller states his name as William, the owner of the vehicle that Eddie is now trapped inside, a retired Doctor who was born in a small town in South Wales, who made his money by working hard for decades, and who now has terminal prostate cancer and has about four months to live. Eddie pleads with him to let him go, but William is not the sort of man to be bargained with, does not suffer fools lightly, and wants to teach Eddie a lesson and the consequences of his actions.
William explains that the car has been modified to his own specifications, including bullet proof glass, one way windows so nobody can see into the car, mobile phone jamming technology, four internal cameras, soundproofing, and everything about the car can be controlled remotely. After a while Eddie falls asleep. He wakes up the next morning and his arm and leg are bandaged up.
And so Saturday comes and goes, as does Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. During this time William and Eddie converse frequently, with Eddie pleading to be released, then cussing and cursing, then turning on the Mr. Nice Guy routine all to no avail. Every time Eddie cusses, so William sends an electric shock through the front or rear seats to teach him a further lesson. William at one point turns the air conditioning down so low for a prolonged period of time that Eddie turns blue, and on another occasion turns the aircon up so high that Eddie strips down to his jocks. William also plays Swiss yodelling music at such a high volume for hours on end, almost sending Eddie over the edge. All the while Eddie has long since exhausted his supply of water, and has taken to pissing in his water bottle and in a moment of desperation drinks his own urine to stay hydrated. He also has no food.
And so on Tuesday night with the rain pouring down, Eddie out of frustration once again, gets into the drivers seat and stabs away at the electronic ignition repeatedly with his finger. The engine fires up, and he's elated. But his high hopes of escape are very short lived as the steering wheel is being handled remotely and a message comes up on the screen that driverless mode selected. And so the car makes its way out of the car park and across the city streets, sometimes abiding by the rules of the road and at other times driving recklessly, at speed, and weaving in and out of other cars. The vehicle passes an alleyway in which two thugs and violently beating up someone who is slumped on the ground. The car comes to a halt metres away from the pair who at first continue pummelling their victim. One of the thugs looks up and into the glare of the headlights and pulls a gun pointing it at the car. The car then lurches forward and mows down the thug and then reverses back over him. The second thug makes a bolt for it on foot and eventually comes to a chained gate, as the car comes to a halt just a few meters away. Eddie pleads with William to stop, but William is relentless and eventually crushes the thug to death against the heavily padlocked wire gate.
The car then drives to a multi-storey carpark and up to the roof top and parks beside another black vehicle. A shadowy figure gets out of the other vehicle and approaches the SUV winding down the drivers side window just one-third of the way down. He introduces himself as William (Anthony Hopkins), and gives Eddie a bottle of water to drink which he downs in one gulp. He then hands Eddie a cable tie and tells him to secure himself to the bar located under the seat. Eddie complies with this request and secures both his hands to the bar, so that he is bent down awkwardly with his head at the same level as the fascia panel above the glove box.
William gets into the drivers seat and drives off, telling Eddie to prepare himself for a long journey. On the journey Eddie goads William asking him what his plans are for him, and how he's going to dispose of his body; and also asking him what happened to his family. William says that his daughter Amy was killed by an unknown assailant who shot Amy in the neck and she died in his arms, and the Police never actively pursued the case, which is in part the reason why he lost all faith in law enforcement. After a while of conversational toing and froing, Eddie is able to manipulate a vehicle kill switch located under the glove box with his foot (having taken a photo of the fuse box days earlier with his mobile phone). This cuts all power to the vehicle. In the ensuing fracas William fires off a round at Eddie, but as the SUV hits a rock on a tight corner in the road, the shot goes astray and the bullet hits the front windscreen, ricochets off to the passenger side window, then the rear window before ricocheting back in the direction of William's front seat, through that and into William's upper back. The car tumbles end over end down a deep ravine and comes to rest right side up at the bottom. William is barely conscious, and Eddie's face is battered, bruised and bloodied having come into contact with the fascia panel on numerous occasions. He is able to cut himself free from the cable ties, just as the engine catches fire. He scrambles to the back and smashes away at the rear window with the tyre wrench eventually breaking the glass allowing him to escape as the flames engulf the car completely.
It is now Wednesday morning and the sun is rising. His phone rings and its his daughter Sarah, asking him if he'll collect her from school today at 2:15pm. Hardly able to speak and dog tired Eddie says yes of course, he'll be there. He scrambles back up to the road and waits for a passing vehicle, which arrives shortly after, and offers him a lift and a thick heavy jacket to keep him warm. Earlier Eddie had removed a partially scratched scratch card from his pocket revealing two $500 numbers. He scrapes away at the other two numbers to reveal a third $500 number. He has won $500 enough to clear his debt to the garage and get his van back in time for him to collect Sarah as planned at 2:15pm. At the auto shop at 2:05pm the shop owner says that he can collect his van but its parked in out back and will take about half an hour. Eddie can't wait that long. Meanwhile 2:15pm comes and Sarah (Ashley Cartwright) is waiting patiently outside the school gates for her Dad. Eddie comes bounding down the street on a kids bike that he saw in the auto repair shop, jumps off and the pair embrace.
With
'Locked', Director David Yarovesky has delivered us a movie shot largely in a single location that serves to up the ante on the claustrophobia and the tension evident in the actions and reactions of the man trapped inside the limited confines of a souped up SUV. In this respect the film works well, and Bill Skarsgard delivers a solid enough performance to make his role convincing, ably supported by the always dependable Anthony Hopkins as the ageing and dying sociopath determined to serve up a slice of retribution as only he knows how. The mid-section meanders along a bit and gets a little repetitive at times, but at a fairly brisk 93 minute run time, this film will hold your interest and is worth the price of your ticket to see these two actors go head to head in an emotional and at times violent thrill ride.
'Locked' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
