Locked Down

Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anne Hathaway, Dule Hill, Jazmyn Simon, Katie Leung, Mark Gatiss, Ben Kingsley, Ben Stiller, Eva Rose, Stephen Merchant, Mindy Kaling
Directed by: Doug Liman
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
2021

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: An estranged couple (Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anne Hathaway) decide to steal priceless jewels during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Review:

Tim: Locked Down was one of the first movies I watched that directly incorporated Covid-19 into its plot. There was definitely some interest to see what that would be like, even though we were all very fatigued with the pandemic at this point. I do think there's something interesting about an event that you experienced showing up in a fictional movie. Unfortunately, the movie is absolute garbage. I have no idea how director Doug Liman, writer Steven Knight, and this cast assembled to produce such a terrible film. The movie was shot in only 18 days and every aspect of this film feels like a rushed production. It feels like everyone involved was horribly distracted (not hard to guess why) and this entire production was lackluster. I struggled to sit through the nearly 2 hour run time. This is one of the worst movies I've seen in a while.

I'm not even sure what this movie was trying to be. Much of the film focuses on these two characters and their broken relationship. Things are made worse because they're stuck together during the pandemic. A great deal of the film is spent on their deteriorating relationship and it involves a lot of talking and facetiming, none of which is particularly interesting. We spend so much time on this mildly interesting people's lives. The pandemic focus is almost a relief, because at least it's something we're not used to seeing. Then, inexplicably, the film turns from a romantic dramedy to a heist film. This transition is horribly handled and it feels jarring to watch. It's like two completely different movies are just melded together without any thought as to the logic or realism of this combination.

I was surprised how boring this movie made the pandemic feel. Sure, most of it was sitting around away from everyone, trying not to get sick (as long as you weren't someone with Covid, then it was deadly/horrifying). This movie just felt like more of the same- let's let you watch these characters sit around doing nothing, maybe argue a little. Oh, it would be great to have you watch their inane work conversations taking place over video chat! We lived this, if it's going to be depicted in a fictional setting, it should have at least been entertaining. It was not. Speaking of the pandemic, I'm not sure what the filming process was, but it felt bizarre to me how few masks were in this movie. Sure, they were used at times, but many scenes took place between people who 100% needed to be masked up and socially distanced. I have no idea if things were just different in other countries, but it completely ruined the film for me. It was just odd to watch a movie squarely address the pandemic and then have characters interact without masks. It felt unrealistic.

I generally like the cast, but I didn't like them here. Chiwetel Ejiofor is a really good actor, but even his talent was stretched too far here. He had the most compelling moments of the film, but also too many moments where he seemed uncomfortable. His performance ends up feeling forced. Anne Hathaway was even worse. She's an undeniable acting talent, but she looked awful here. Everything she did felt forced and unnatural. Showing big, unrestrained emotions has never been her strong suit and I cringed at much of her acting here. There's a scene where she's losing it a bit and talking through the heist and it just seemed like such poor, poor acting. Ejiofor and Hathaway might be talented, but they weren't good here at all. It was nice seeing Ben Kingsley, Ben Stiller, Stephen Merchant, and Mindy Kaling, but they offer nearly nothing to the film, besides a flash of excitement at seeing them. As a whole, Liman's cast isn't able to add much to the film.

I guess in some ways, the movie did face great challenges. It couldn't have been easy to film the movie during the pandemic. Maybe it needs a little bit of grace for that. But, just a tiny amount. Locked Down is an awful movie. I had to struggle to get through it. The ending was unsatisfying, but also a huge relief so I could get on with my life. There was no reason for this movie to drag on for 2 hours. This was one of the first movies to be released in 2021 and it's hard to believe it won't end up as one of the worst.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 4



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Continuing to self-quarantine even after the pandemic ends