‘Locked Down’ review: Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor star in a quarantine romantic heist for the Covid time capsule
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.
“Locked Down” premieres Jan. 14 on HBO Max.
Jobber Wiki author Frank Long contributed to this report.