Locked

A thief breaking into a luxury SUV and getting locked inside, realizes that he has slipped into a sophisticated game of psychological horror.

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Introduction

A masterful performance coupled with amazing cinematography. Locked is an underrated claustrophobic inducing film was very well made. At first you’d think its a low budget film, but with the star powered lineup of actors they have, namely Bill Skarsgård (IT, Nosferatu 2024) and Anthony Hopkins (Hannibal 2001, The Two Popes 2019), added the fact its a remake of the 2019 Argentinian action film titled “4×4”. And remakes would usually cost around $34 million and $133 million. Directed by David Yarovesky (Brightburn 2019, Nightbooks 2021).

Why is it claustrophobic inducing you ask? Well, majority of the film are shot inside a car that our protagonist Eddie Barrish (played by Bill Skarsgard) broke into. Unknowingly, the luxury SUV he broke into was a trap set by a wealthy old dying man (played by Anthony Hopkins), who is a self-proclaimed vigilante who delivers his own brand of twisted justice.

Characters

Bill Skarsgård was awesome, granted he had the most screentime and dialogue; nonetheless, his performances was top tier. I watched this blindly, not knowing who was the cast involved, at first I couldn’t wrap may head around who the blonde protagonist was, not until he was in the garage, before he got into the car did I realize who he was. His accent completely different. His intonations was perfect and fitted his character perfectly. The way he moves, jittery, lazy and dragging at the same time, perfect.

Anthony Hopkins have always been a favorite of mine. He doesn’t even have to change his manner of speaking with his role here. Everyone has that idea of how Hopkins would act and speak, his intonations and accent, even his wordings. Once you hear his voice and how he speaks, its enchanting and its like a cherry on top of Skarsgard’s performance.

Never have I thought about them doing something together, but now that I think about it, they do have something in common. They portray sinister roles perfectly, at the same time, they’re also able to adapt into being a victim in their other works. When they were locked together in the car, that was a big moment for me, and I think for Skarskgard as well.

Storytelling, Dialogue and Cinematography

Its quite simple really, the plot of Locked. Man breaks into the wrong car, messes with the wrong person and gets karma. But they were able to extend that short idea into a full length feature film.

The dialogue was carefully written and I was engaged with it the whole time. Their exchanges were fluid and no stupid remarks from either of the two characters.

I love how they were able to maximize the use and placement of cameras inside the car. I have yet to learn about how they did the 360 degree rotation when Skarsgard realizes he was trapped inside the car, that was probably the most iconic shot for me.

What I didn’t like (Spoiler Alert)

It was very improbable, though I admit that it could happen (I think), that when Hopkins shot the gun and it bounced off of 2-3 window panes and it ended up hitting his back. I laughed at that scene, it was so funny and kind of stupid how they chose to end it. They’re like “okay, time to wrap this up! Just have the bullet bounced off of the windows and we’re good.”

I wish we could’ve gotten more of Hopkins’ history, though a little mystery behind the wealthy dying old man was a nice touch.

Conclusion

Locked was a great watch, very underrated and rarely talked about. Some are saying that Hopkins was desperate for work to accept such a job, I’d say they’re wrong and it was a great decision on his part to work with Skarsgard (His role in Thor 2011 as Odin was the worse). If you’re not a fan of great dialogue heavy film shot within one confined space, this isn’t for you. Great dialogue, great cinematography and 2 star powered actors combine to create this awesome survival horror.

Personal opinion, I’d rank Buried (2010) starring Ryan Reynolds higher than Locked (2025).