‘Locked Down’ review: Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor star in a quarantine romantic heist for the Covid time capsule

Last updated Jan 13, 2021

The movie is especially simply the most recent effort to confine the strangeness of the pandemic and turn that into drama, consisting of a variety of minimal series and specials produced TELEVISION and streaming. The primary distinction here includes the marquee stars (plus some entertaining Zoom-call cameos), working with “The Bourne Identity” director Doug Liman (whose most germane credit here may be “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”) and author Steven Knight (“Peaky Blinders”).

Cohabiting in London, Ejiofor’s Paxton has actually simply been furloughed from his van-driving gig, while his partner Linda (Hathaway) is required to lay off a few of her business’s employees. That just contributes to the shared sense of despair and pain, given that Linda — very first seen shouting into a pillow — had actually been “planning to end our thing” prior to the lockdown kept them a minimum of physically together.

The stress in the relationship comes gushing out in a great deal of rapid-fire discussion, practically like an Aaron Sorkin film, just there’s very little space to stroll while talking.

“I’m not normal lately, I know that,” Paxton confesses, prior to heading out into the street to check out poetry, loudly, as a method of “entertaining our fellow inmates.”

Like a lot of shot-under-quarantine productions, it’s appealing for about thirty minutes or two, thanks in part to the charming leads. For the next half-hour, a lot of audiences — like their situation — will most likely have actually seen enough and simply wish to go out.

The 2nd half, however, takes a significant turn, as a chance emerges for the 2 to team up on absconding with a valuable (OKAY, incredibly important) piece of product. The situation develops unpredictability about whether they’ll really go through with the plan, if they’ll escape with it, and whether sharing such an undertaking can fix the damage done in between them.

Along the method, the set chat with numerous buddies and colleagues played by the similarity Ben Stiller, Ben Kingsley and Dule Hill, however this is mainly a two-handed card video game.

When once again, it’s possible to appreciate the resourcefulness — and in this case, the main efficiencies — without discovering the outcome especially pleasing. Seeing attractive individuals participating in ordinary, getting-under-each-other’s-skin bickering does not always make that a great deal more enjoyable.

Dispersed by Warner Bros. amidst the studio’s method of releasing its 2021 slate on HBO Max (like CNN, both systems of WarnerMedia), “Locked Down” is the sort of small-boned film that does not lose anything on a streaming platform. Artistically speaking, it really may get something after a couple of years in the vault, however for now, it falls someplace in the worlds of “Not enough” and “Too soon,” choose.

“Locked Down” premieres Jan. 14 on HBO Max.

Jobber Wiki author Frank Long contributed to this report.

'Locked Down' review: Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor star in a quarantine romantic heist for the Covid time capsule - CNN entertainment