Movie review: 'Locked' cleverly torments Bill Skarsgard

LOS ANGELES, March 19 (UPI) -- Movies set in a single location generate an inherent level of interest simply to see how a film can fill 90 minutes of time. Locked, in theaters Friday, compares favorably to films like Panic Room, Phone Booth and Buried.

Based on the Argentine movie 4 x 4, Locked stars Bill Skarsgard as Eddie, a divorced father struggling to make ends meet. He needs $475 to repair his van so he can fulfill after school visitation with his daughter, Sarah (Ashley Cartwright).

Eddie quickly exhausts pickpocketing, begging friends and lottery scratch tickets. He resorts to breaking into an SUV and is somehow locked inside.

William (Anthony Hopkins) calls Eddie through the car's electronic system once he learns someone else is in his vehicle and opts to hold Eddie captive.

The car, a fictional brand called Dolus, is a bit fancier than real-world cars to make this premise work. For example, not even Tesla Cybertrucks have bulletproof windows.

The features make for a fun movie trap. The Dolus blocks Eddie's cell phone signal and has soundproof and tinted windows, cutting him off from anybody outside.

William uses the custom features of the car to torment Eddie further, including tasers in the seats. By combining the temperature, sound system and injuries Eddie suffered while trying to escape, William is able to push and pull his captive in all directions. Eddie is not entirely passive, attempting to gain the advantage when William isn't surveilling him.

As cathartic as the idea of punishing a car thief is, Locked necessarily has to address the extremity of William's methods and the resources devoted to them. That explanation proves a tad simplistic.

The film also oversimplifies some of Eddie and William's debates about crime and wealth. There is a valid argument to be had about desperation driving people to commit criminal acts to survive, but that's not really where Locked goes.

Eddie just recites familiar talking points about the system being rigged to let the 1% keep their wealth while the other 99% struggle paycheck to paycheck. He's not wrong, but it's not believable that someone that desperate has articulated the same arguments as political advocates.

On a pure narrative level, however, Locked keeps the thriller moving. Hopkins does appear in the movie, too, so it's not an entirely voiceover performance.

Overall, Locked is worth seeing to see Skarsgard and Hopkins -- two titans of horror from different generations -- face off. It's not Pennywise vs. Hannibal Lecter, but neither is it a boring 90 minute thriller.

Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.