In our current world landscape, it can be challenging to differentiate between a good and bad person. Do we excuse those who commit crimes if it's to get by or help their family? Are we entirely sure that people can change and become a better version of themselves? The new movie Locked explores these concepts—amongst other themes—in what turns into an enjoyable ride, but one that may have missed the mark.
David Yarovesky's movie follows Eddie (Bill Skarsgård), a petty criminal, a terrible father, and the type of guy you hate getting a call from. Eddie is down on his luck, to say the least, and has resorted to breaking into cars, stealing from others, and doing whatever he can to make ends meet. The beginning, for instance, makes the audience question if Eddie is even someone we want to succeed, even though he's the "good guy" within the plot.
Eddie makes the mistake of breaking into a high-end SUV, and when he tries to exit the vehicle, he realizes that he's stuck inside. He soon gets a call from William Larsen (Anthony Hopkins) who informs him that he owns the car and that Eddie will be stuck until he's done teaching him a lesson. And while we can't see William, you can feel his hatred for criminals—namely because of how passionate he is about punishing Eddie for breaking into his car.
Over the next hour, the film follows Eddie as he tries to figure out a solution to his current predicament. In a lesser actor, this may lead to a boring drag of a film, but
Skarsgård carries the performance and helps ensure that we stay invested until its conclusion.
The movie tries to explore themes pertaining to how the current justice system works, how we treat low-income members of society, the options available to the rich versus the poor, and the revolving door some people never get off of during their lives. Some of these ideas lead to meaningful conversations between both actors but others fall flat and don't receive the necessary time to truly expand on what the director was going for.
As William continues to punish Eddie throughout the movie, it becomes clear that he has transitioned from someone trying to serve justice to someone who is simply a psychopath. William's actions lead to multiple deaths and he attempts to kill Eddie's daughter before Eddie makes it clear that he's willing to end the game however necessary.
William eventually gets into the car with Eddie and it leads to an up-and-down ending that doesn't quite hit the mark. The final conversation between both characters is disjointed and although William clearly has plans to punish Eddie further, he seems to still have the idea that him being a tormenter is deserved and that he earned the right to torture another human being.
It's another idea presented by director David Yarovesky that is interesting, but doesn't receive a full investment before the film's end. As humans, do we deserve the right to punish someone if the law won't take it into their own hands? I would argue no, but you see stories every day of folks who didn't think police officers, district attorneys, or the courts were taking them serious so they handled an issue themselves.
Final Thoughts
My main complaint, albeit selfishly, is that a non-happy ending would have had a bigger impact and made for an overall better movie. Eddie is eventually able to escape the car and get back to his daughter, but Yarovesky could have used this to show that some people really don't change and that the cycle can repeat itself no matter how many life lessons we're taught.
Overall, Locked feels like a Saw trap within an SVU and it makes for an enjoyable ride. Eddie suffers numerous significant injuries, deals with freezing and burning temperatures, and is eventually forced to drink any fluid that he can while he learns a lesson for a mistake he made. Skarsgård turns in a performance worth watching, even if the film takes the easy route by giving us a happy ending.
Locked is currently playing in theaters.