Locked Movie Review: Luxury Lethal Weapon

Locked turns a simple heist into a high-tech deathtrap, but this thrill ride runs out of gas, sputtering before the big payoff.

Desperate for cash and arguing with his ex over money he doesn’t have, petty thief Eddie is expecting a quick score when he eyes an unoccupied black vehicle in an innocuous parking lot.  What he doesn’t expect in the routine smash and grab is for the SUV to become his prison, trapping him inside a fortress of punishment by William (Anthony Hopkins, The Father), a self-styled vigilante watching from the shadows, determined to administer his brand of justice.  The car isn’t just locked; it’s weaponized, complete with electrified seats, a climate control system that can turn the interior into an oven or icebox, and an entertainment system that torturously keeps yodeling music on a loop. What follows is a battle of wits—or at least, it should be. Instead, Locked meanders, stretching its thin premise across 95 minutes that feel better suited to an hour-long Black Mirror episode.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise given his track record for fully immersing himself in his characters, but Skarsgård is fully committed, tackling the physical demands of the role by spending the bulk of the movie confined and cramped, alternating between desperation, rage, and exhaustion. The opening act does a better-than-decent job setting up his character. We can see he’s not a hardened criminal; he’s just a man in over his head. His daughter is growing up without him, his ex pleads with him to stop missing important moments in their child’s life, and his options are running thin. The jittery schemer is easy to root for in these early scenes, but as the film goes on the screenplay fails him, eroding the sympathy we’ve built by cycling Eddie through the same beats and rehashing his unfortunate predicament without adding any depth.

Cinematographer Michael Dallatorre makes the most of the confined setting, working with Yarovesky to ensure the mostly single-location story remains visually engaging. The SUV, a creation of Kris Bergthorson (Godzilla, Tomorrowland), is a marvel of unbranded ominous luxury. It’s the kind of vehicle a Bond villain would own, which is both Locked’s greatest strength and its biggest weakness. As the story progresses, the car’s over-the-top features push the narrative into near-parody, undercutting the grounded tension the movie strives for.

There’s only so much that can happen when your protagonist is physically stuck in one place, and Locked struggles to maintain its momentum, even though William takes Eddie on a few wild rides to demonstrate his vigilantism, it reveals the film’s questionable taste level. What begins as a psychological thriller occasionally veers into grotesque violence, and an alarming chase scene involving a child feels unnecessarily exploitative. Yarovesky’s previous film, 2019’s pseudo-evil Superman tale Brightburn, also struggled with balancing its narrative thrust with ugly moments of brutality.

The film tosses around big ideas—vigilante justice, the consequences of crime, the fine line between right and wrong—but never fully commits to them. William sees himself as an agent of moral reckoning, yet his punishment grows progressively more sadistic, and his philosophical musings become tiresome. By the time the movie hits its more gruesome sequences, it’s clear that Locked has lost sight of its message, mistaking brutality for suspense. The film’s moral compass spins wildly as Hopkins’ character—whose motivation extends beyond mere revenge for breaking and entering—becomes increasingly hypocritical, doling out punishment far exceeding the crime.

Speaking of Hopkins, usually a master of icy menace, his participation feels perfunctory at best, reduced to a voice on the other end of the phone for most of the runtime. The Oscar winner literally dials in his performance, appearing only in the final ten minutes of the film. By the time he finally appears on screen, it’s too little, too late and even then, the movie leans heavily on a body double, making his presence feel even more disconnected. As written, the role seems beneath an actor of his caliber, better suited for the Hopkins of thirty years ago than the legend we see today.

Locked could have worked as a tight, mean little thriller, and you can see the structure in place for what might have been. There’s a certain satisfaction in seeing a thief get his comeuppance, but when the punishment becomes so excessive that the audience starts questioning who the real villain is, the film loses a critical aspect of its perspective. Skarsgård does his best but he’s acting in a void, up against an antagonist who remains an offscreen voice for most of the run time.  If the script had tightened its focus and given him a more present and engaging adversary this could have been the heart-pounding ride the filmmakers intended.

Locked will be released in US theatres, in UK & Irish cinemas, and globally in theaters on March 21, 2025.