A remake of the French thriller 4x4 (and now adapted by Michael Arlen Ross), Locked tells the very stripped-down story of down-on-his-luck petty criminal Eddie (Bill Skarsgård) trying to get his life back on track so he can pay child support for his young daughter (Ashley Cartwright). Unfortunately, Eddie can’t catch a break. His van is in the shop but he can’t pay to get it out because he’s a delivery driver, and he can’t deliver anything without his van (he also can’t pick up his daughter from school, as he promised he would).
Soon, he slips back into his old ways and starts looking for ways he can acquire money illegally, including stealing cars. He spots a particularly nice-looking, luxury SUV in a parking lot, and its doors are even unlocked, like it’s asking for it. He hops in, and the doors immediately lock behind him, trapping him in the vehicle and setting him on a journey he never anticipated.
Produced by Sam Raimi and directed by David Yarovesky (Brightburn, The Hive), Locked sees Eddie try every possibility in hopes of freeing himself. But the glass is tinted, shatterproof and soundproof; he tries to shoot his way out, and the bullet ricochets and goes into his leg; the car is able to block cell service; the seats are electrified; and the entire car is remotely controlled by its vengeful owner, William (Anthony Hopkins), who is seeking justice where once it was denied him in life. It isn’t until very late in the film we’re even sure what William’s endgame is with Eddie, but no amount of apologizing or going along with the game that William seems to be playing with his captive seems to make any difference.
Almost the entire film takes place inside this admittedly roomy vehicle, but the claustrophobia, combined with Hopkins’ taunting delivery, makes this a curiously intense battle for survival. When he doesn’t like how much Eddie is swearing or not complying, he turns the heat up or the A/C way down, and he blasts yodel-heavy music for hours. But just to keep Eddie alive, he tends to his wounds when Eddie is asleep, and he hides food and water in the car, only revealing them when Eddie is on the brink of starving or dying of thirst.
It’s a genuine ride of a film, even if the logic doesn’t quite pan out. We get just enough information about William to get a pretty good idea what happened to him that made him this way, but we also discover that he’s an elitist, classist pig of a privileged man (probably a racist too, but we never get into that) whose vigilante ways are fueled just as much by prejudice as they are by any sense of right and wrong or justice.
Even though the film only runs a bit over 90 minutes, it feels much longer because there’s only so much that can be accomplished in a car that Eddie isn’t even driving (naturally, it’s a self-driving vehicle). Eddie rambles on about “street smarts” being more important in the world than a proper education, and while I’m not disputing that, both of these characters are dislikable for different reasons, making it tough to take either of them seriously, let alone empathize with either. The film is more frustrating than disappointing, but it manages to be both in the end. My advice is to seek out the 2019 original (which is even shorter), and have a nice night at home with it.
The film is now playing in theaters.
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