Eddie Barrish is down and out.
The fact is, though, he’s made terrible choices for most of his life. This man of the streets has stolen, cheated, lied, and taken whatever questionable steps necessary to make it through.
And now he’s down to his last $350—which is far less than he needs to pay for the repairs on his rusty van.
Eddie, however, has no friend left to borrow from. He has no vehicle to make money with. He can’t even follow through on his promises to his young daughter, Sarah. She’s the only ray of hope in his miserable life, and the best he can do is lie to her about when he’ll show up, when he’ll follow through.
So, Eddie tries to steal his way out of this particular predicament. He grabs some guy’s wallet. He scopes around for any mislaid briefcase or turned-away-from laptop. He rattles car door handles.
Then … one car door is unlocked. And it belongs to the sweetest, top of the line SUV you’ve ever laid eyes on: something called a Dolus. This thing nearly sparkles in the dingy lot it’s parked in. Inside, the interior is a rich utopia of well-padded, top-grain leather. The electronics are big ticket. The sound system elite.
As Eddie slips into the vehicle’s opulence and let’s his lungs fill with the scent of leather and money, he’s sure he’s hit the jackpot. Even if he can’t get this beauty started, there’s gotta be something in here that’ll sell for big bucks.
He shuts the door with a satisfying solid thunk and smiles. Then he begins his search. But other than an expensive pair of sunglasses, the car is surprisingly devoid of anything of value. It’s like it was driven off a car lot minutes ago: new, opulent, clean. And then left unlocked in some empty city parking lot.
Of course, Eddie’s real problem is that this unlocked tank of a vehicle is no longer unlocked. The doors are now sealed up like a vault. The windows are heavily tinted and as solid as steel. The interior is utterly sound proof. The doors and dash are impenetrable and substantial. Someone standing just outside the driver’s side window couldn’t hear him scream.
And that is very much the point.
That’s because William, the Dolus’ wealthy and very vengeful owner, has invested heavily in making this vehicle into the perfect snare. It cannot be broken into … or out of.
At a touch of the controller in William’s hand, the vehicle’s interior can be made bitterly cold or blazingly hot. Its sound system can play at mind-numbing volumes. Its seats can deliver taser-like shocks. The engine can roar to life and drive to any destination William desires.
William’s sleek and beautiful Dolus is the perfect Venus flytrap, rendered out of leather, steel and Z-rated rubber. And Eddie is the first thieving insect that buzzed his way in.
Let the screaming begin.
Both Eddie and William make declarations about the brokenness of our world, describing it as a place littered with trash, one that’s filled with homeless encampments and crime. And they both have their own perspective on why that brokenness is part of our world. Those aren’t positive elements, per se, but they could serve as a cautionary catalyst prompting viewers to reach for something better.
The film’s version of that “something better” focuses on Eddie’s daughter, Sarah. She’s an innocent who tells her obviously troubled father how much she loves him. And amid his potentially deadly struggles, Eddie realizes how very important and valuable that love is.
Eddie also records a message for his daughter expressing his deep affection for her and admitting his failings. Locked uses that sentiment to declare that giving of yourself, asking for forgiveness and loving others can be a healing balm.
Finally, the film reminds us that we all face consequences for our bad choices and actions. Also of note: Eddie gives water to a dog that’s locked inside a car.
A billboard declares, “Judgement Day is coming!” William says that he wants Eddie to experience a “little bit of hell.”
We see Eddie with his shirt off. And once, when William turns the SUV’s heat up, Eddie strips down to his undershorts.
Locked weaves a thick tapestry of physical and emotional violence that sometimes crosses the line into full-on torture. For instance, William uses extreme temperatures, loud sounds and a lack of food and water to get the rebellious and angry Eddie to comply.
[Note: Spoilers are contained in the rest of this section.]
Early on, after Eddie is trapped in the SUV, he begins ripping at the vehicle’s interior and cuts his forearm. And then Eddie shoots at a bulletproof window, but the ricocheting bullet bounces back to rip a large hole in his calf. That second wound bleeds profusely, and we see blood pool on the floor mat, despite Eddie’s efforts to create a blood-staunching torniquet. He passes out from loss of blood but awakens with his wounds bandaged.
The gun is also fired in the car a second time and the ricocheting round hits someone in the back. Eddie is also shocked repeatedly by the taser contacts built into the Dolus’ seats. On one occasion he is shocked over and over until he stops struggling and collapses. Eddie is also thumped violently around in the cars interior as it speeds down the street.
The vehicle’s brakes are slammed, repeatedly smashing Eddie’s face into the dash. After several of those injuries, Eddie’s face is split open, and blood streams down his face. Someone is beaten repeatedly in the face and left bloody and dazed. We see Eddie try to pry away at the Dolus’ electronic panel. We watch closely as his fingernail is ripped from his finger.
We see two men beating up a victim in a dark alley. The remotely piloted SUV runs over one of them, crushing the man beneath its large front wheels. The other thug is chased to a chain link metal fence where he’s crushed by the car’s bumper. As the man struggles to get up, the large vehicle hits him again, causing him to spew gushing gore as he dies.
The vehicle also tracks Sarah as she makes her way home from school on a small scooter. Eddie watches powerlessly as his daughter is stalked and threatened. And in desperation, he puts his pistol to his temple and pulls the trigger in an effort to give William “what he wants.” However, the bullets have already been removed from the gun. (The car smashes the girl’s scooter but leaves Sarah unscathed.)
William talks about being attacked and robbed by heartless thugs who took his vehicle and brutally murdered his young daughter. We also learn that the elderly man is dying of cancer.
At one point the Dolus speeds over a rocky cliff area and down a sheer hillside. The people inside are knocked unconscious and left bloody. The vehicle then bursts into flames. One man is consumed in the blaze.
This film’s language is, at times, ear-blisteringly foul. We hear more than 60 screamed f-words and 15 s-words. We also hear uses of “d–n,” “b–ch” and “b–tard.” God and Jesus’ names are misused some five or six times total (four of those instances blending God with “d–n”). Sarah calls her dad a “farthead” a couple of times.
Eddie smokes a vape pen. We hear William pouring himself a drink and then consuming it. And later he takes swigs from a flask in person. Eddie screams at someone that he’s “not a junkie.”
As mentioned above, Eddie steals a man’s wallet. Eddie urinates into an empty water bottle and then, later, drinks it.
There is some discussion about the possibility that William has become a psychopath. And he then admits that he must be since he feels no compassion for Eddie’s suffering.
In turn, Eddie states that rich people like William “deserve to be robbed.” He also declares, “You can’t have justice without morality.”
Locked is a single-location thriller that very quickly establishes its logline premise: A slimy street thug tries to steal an expensive car and ends up snared by a cynical rich man’s vengeful trap.
And in the dramatic tug-and-pull between one man’s screechingly profane outrage and another’s use of lightly psychopathic torment, the film seemingly delivers opposing messages.
Depending on your personal perspective, that message may be a harsh indictment of our money-driven class divide, or it might exhibit a bleak exasperation over the lawless decline of our society. Those are the viewpoints of the two opposing duelists in this movie shootout.
Ultimately, though, the film makes a much clearer statement: Turn away from your petty, self-focused resentments and start caring for the people you love, it demands. Clean up your life. Embrace your children. Give of yourself.
Those are, on the surface, praiseworthy imperatives. Wouldn’t our broken world be better off if we all took those things to heart?
However, Locked also demands a painful price for that good advice. The film is searingly profane and torn-flesh-and-spurting-blood violent. Its central characters are both as likeable as a plague. And you have to be locked in an SUV with their anger, torment and urine-gulping nastiness for an hour and a half.
Even with full-grain leather seats, that’s not a pleasant drive.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
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