Twenty years from now, everyone’s kids will ask what living during the time of The Virus was like. What was everyday life like for most people? And what the heck was a ‘Zoom’? The EASIEST answer might be to put on Locked Down, and tell them to watch.
The FIRST movie written, shot, edited, and released about the current times we live in, Locked Down might just be the film we need right now.
The Plot – Locked Down
Anne Hathaway plays Linda, an American living in London who’s REALLY starting to climb the corporate ladder. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Paxton, a motorcycle enthusiast who’s not having the same professional luck.
Linda recently dumped Paxton for that exact reason after nearly a decade together. However, Paxton, and almost everyone else around the world, just got Locked Down. It’s not easy as to avoid your Ex when you share the same house 24/7 during a quarantine as you might think!
We join the former couple already Locked Down. A steady diet of Zoom calls, socially distanced food delivery, and awkward Skype calls fight to fill the void and feelings of extreme isolation.
Paxton thrives on the open road, both as a delivery driver and on his bike. Now, the job is gone, and the bike is going. Linda finds life at the top is not as easy as some might think, and her dumpee Paxton is more than a little insufferable to live with.
The fabric of society might always be sewn with a tenuously strong thread, but that thread is starting to fray. Paxton sways from using his bike to slowly end his pain while standing still, to an impromptu spoken word performance to a captive audience of neighbors, to numbing himself with random plants growing in his back yard.
Linda’s screams into the void are dampened by her pillow. Linda’s frustrations with Paxton go unheard by her even more frustrated roommate. And Linda’s stresses only get quelled by the nicotine rush from a cigarette. A virus that kills some is impacting the lives of every one.
When the world is spinning out of your control, how do you regain control of your own life?
The Good
Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor expertly convey the confusion, frustration, sadness, and madness resulting from the virus. The isolation that results in a spike in divorces in real life, the stress that results in a spike in substance abuses in real life, and the economic pressures that results from job losses in real life.
Linda and Paxton hardly listen to each other, or anyone else; and often talk over each other even when they do.
Dule Hill plays Paxton’s ‘Half-Brother’ David checking up on him via Zoom, audio and video pops included. David’s wife Maria joins in the call and later Skypes Linda to check in and drop a doozy of a confession. Seeing a person’s face may be better than a phone call, but the artifice of technology is as imperfect as the people communicating with it.
Ben Kingsley plays Paxton’s boss, or former boss depending on how you look at it, who calls upon Paxton for a job that isn’t exactly above board. Paxton may not have many options, and accepting the job could either greatly improve his life, or make it much, much worse.
Ben Stiller plays LInda’s boss, who passive aggressively calls upon her to not only fire her entire staff, but wrap up an entire job by herself, and to do so for some rather unsavory figures. Linda too, could either greatly improve her life, or make it much, much worse.
Practically the entire first hour and a half of the film is shot in and around a single house and street. The heist and aftermath only make up the last 30 minutes of the film.
The cast is great, the world building is great, and the tension building is great!
The Bad
Not much in the bad category for this film.
Technically well done, including the editing of actual video from Zoom and Skype calls. Even the isolation and boredom convey well without taking up too much screen time.
The biggest stretch for this film might very be the climax of the film/heist. In what normally would be a stretch too far for a film or for reality, the climax of the film actually works with the tension, chaos, and societal breakdown built up over the first 3/4 of the film. While I think the climax could have been better conceived and executed, it did not take away from the reality of the film, or the believability of the outcome.
The Review – Locked Down
Director Doug Liman expertly builds the tension and reality of a Locked Down world. His ability to tell a socially distanced story, while STILL in that socially distanced world; testifies to his talent as a filmmaker.
Liman takes the end of relationship tension/drama resulting in a heist/team up movie from his earlier film Mr. and Mrs. Smith; and successfully transposes that to a real life scenario while still inside the real life scenario.
To work within the real life restrictions a cast and crew must face in today’s world is amazing to see. Locked Down feels as if shot two years from now, and after all the social distancing is already finished. Add in Hathaway and Ejiofor’s grounded, yet dynamic performances, and you get a real feel for the claustrophobia and pressure Linda and Paxton are going through.
While Locked Down will not win any Oscars for Cinematography or an epic scale, this film is the perfect time capsule for what many of us are experiencing today. Absolutely worth a watch, and not so ironically from home, instead of in theaters. And, on a streaming service that didn’t exist hardly a year ago.
One part therapy, one part comedy, and two parts virus catharsis. The film we needed at the time we needed it.
118 minutes, Rated-R, Comedy/Crime/Romance, on HBO Max NOW!
Dragon Movie Guy Locked Down Movie Review
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Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor try to survive a breakup and more in Locked Down.