User Reviews

"Being locked up is making it worse."

Welcome to January Movies! Today we have...a crime comedy written by someone with a bad track history and all the big stars who need new agents!

Locked Down follows a couple that attempts a high-risk, high-stakes jewelry heist at a department store during the lockdown due to covid-19. I'm pretty sure the trailer came out maybe a week before this was released on HBO Max. Doug Liman has made some good movies in the past so there was a chance for this. Unfortunately, Steven Knight wrote this and has only written one good movie, that being Locke, and his latest being the train wreck that is Serenity (2019). Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but this is a January movie so I'm just gonna say it how it is. This is exactly what I thought it would be and I'm fine with that. Most of the issues come from the writing. Surprisingly I did like the writing at the beginning. There was some clever dialogue concerning covid-19 and how it has affected jobs and mental health. Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor give fine performances. Their monologues were performed well and they worked nicely together. But soon enough, the writing fails. Nothing happens until the last 30 minutes, I'm not joking. The beginning had me interested because I thought that would be a small portion. Then it continues to lecture us on stuff we already know for about an hour before even getting to the thought of a heist movie. Then for another 30 minutes they discuss the heist stuff, but I already lost interest. When the heist takes place, I didn't even know it had started because I was sitting on my phone. I will say that it's entertaining then, but it's only 30 minutes of a basic heist. This two hour movie could've cut at the very least 30 minutes because I gained nothing other than being bored.

Doug Liman had a few moments of good directing. He just couldn't find a way to keep the audience engaged in the middle. Maybe this was trying for a realistic approach, but people don't want to see the boring parts that we forget about. There are so many cameos thrown throughout for us to point at the screen and say "Wow! That's someone famous!" But it feels almost exhausting seeing that many cameos. It feels like this was the movie that people decided to do to finish a contract. Anne Hathaway has faded pretty quick which is sad. She's a great actress and give a good performance almost every time. The movies just fail to draw in an audience or a positive review. In the end, this is a basic attempt at a comedy heist movie. With a few good moments and good lead performance, I found myself entertained from time to time, but I won't remember this in a year and I don't think anyone else will.

Bland, sometimes incomprehensible, story with an ending which truly makes no sense. Such a waste of excellent actors on such a boring, non-sensical story.

I was wondering how long it would take them before they came up with a Covid movie and apparently it's not even that long as we're still right in the middle of it. The movie is as boring as the whole supposed pandemia. I guess they made it in the beginning of the outbreak as the measures still seem to be mild, not really what we are imposed to do now. Locked Down is too long, much too long. It's a lot of talking, a lot of uninteresting conversations.. And even though the cast contains some well known actors it's still a mediocre movie. You have to wait till the very last part to have some crime, but even that wasn't satisfying. If you want to watch endless conversations between Chiwetel Ejiofor and Anne Hathaway then this is a movie for you. If on the other hand you're sick of hearing anything about Covid just skip this one, I wish I did.

This was advertised as a heist movie but (as I guess makes sense during Covid) was really just the two main characters at home alone for 95% of the movie. That would be fine if those scenes were interesting, but they're not. And once the heist plot kicks in, it is the lamest, most simplistic plan in the world. Seriously, don't waste your time with this one. (And if you want a fun movie with great characters and clever dialogue, check out Doug Liman's Go, one of the most underrated movies ever, instead.)

A very pleasant movie for a rainy day. Kudos to the writer who wrote the interesting dialog that was delivered by the two main actors. I especially liked Anne Hathaway and her many monologues. The scenery in London was nice and the story kept my interest. A bit on the intellectual side, but that is what made it good for me.

It starts off as a slow building story...then slows down from there

There's a lot of disappointment from people who expected a good heist plot or a compelling marriage romcom.

I went in with no expectations at all, and the strong acting and good score were quite enough to make it enjoyable.

Even as a Hathaway apologist, Locked Down is rough to sit through. She and Ejiofor seem to be trying to out-overact each other in every scene. Not that the script is any help; it's an obnoxious, self-insistent Sorkin-wannabe, full of long, ridiculous, self-absorbed monologues, with the characters speaking out the subtext in faux-clever analogies. Any humor that works gets lost in a sea of pretentious pomposity and yuppie whining.

Like a funnier, less pretentious Malcolm and Marie.

The Paxton character alternates between hit or miss. He's often faux deep in a cringey way and I'm not sure if it's bad writing or it's self aware and poking fun. I've giving it the benefit of the doubt and leaning self-aware because Anne Hathaway feels like she's ETERNALLY rolling her eyes into the back of her head in this and I related. Either way I laughed.

On that point - I think I like Anne Hathaway more than most people. She was great in Colossal and she's the best thing about this. This film might not age amazingly (maybe it already hasn't?) but it was fun for what it was.

At first I thought it was going to be boring as some reviews say, but I found it quite entertaining and up to date. I have laughed and I have seen myself live some situations that are captured in the film quite well. Give it a chance and enjoy, a simple story that knows how to treat the covid and the day to day of the pandemic in a realistic and optimistic ay.

Great actors but boring movie could've done better Don't waste your time

The beginning of this movie is awful, if you are looking for an attention grab... This isn't it. To be honest I turned it off... If it got better, cool, I will never know.

Whilst it takes a while to get going and is annoyingly more focused on the lockdown side rather than the heist itself, Locked Down is still a really good film that's fun, funny and enjoyable. Chwitel Ejiofor and Anne Hathaway are both excellent with superb chemistry and keep the film entertaining throughout. Ben Kingsley is also really funny in a brief part. Doug Liman's direction is really good and it's well filmed. The music by John Powell is really good and the soundtrack is good.

The story was so badly researched and felt like an amateur wrote it. just felt frivilous , susch a waste of good actors

Doug Liman takes full advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic and films a socially distanced story about a failing relationship and a small-time heist plot. The movie has a refreshing simplicity to it and the two central performances are impressive. Perhaps, it starts to come off the rails with the silliness toward the end. However, it is an easy watch.

I turned this on because I thought it would be quite relatable and I loved the cast. The trailer seemed interesting, but then randomly there's a jewelry heist that seemed to be thrown in to make the movie longer. It really didn't feel authentic whatsoever to the storyline that started the movie. 3 stars for the cast but that's it.

... for this truly horrendous waste of space and time!?

Even though the trailer itself looked weak, being stuck in lockdowm 3.0 myself I thought I'd give it a shot anyway due to Hathaway and Ejiofor, but man, even they couldn't save this bargain basement talkie-borefest from becoming terminal in record time.

I'd like to elaborate but you know what, it was so bad i turned it off after half an hour. Truly horrible attempt by Warner of all studios, and the timing of this during the middle of an ongoing pandemic is as questionable as the studio head that green-lighted it. Avoid like huggng and kissing your way through the streets of London. You have been warned.

Great fun and not a bad "in pandemic" times movie.

From some of the lower ratings I can see the reviewers have missed the point both in the title and the whole meaning of the film. No surprise when you see what films they have watched and reviewed in the past as being great.

More of this easy going fun word be welcomed.

Ben Kingsley reminded me of his Sexy Beast character, demanding, confusing and on the edge.

Great.

This movie was put out so quickly just to take advantage of current events and it shows. Extremely boring and Chiwetel has never had any talent other than a concerned cardboard-faced copy/pasted version of undoubtedly his real life self. Anne is past her prime, which is sad to see, but it's happened.

I don't know if this was meant to be a comedy, but it made me laugh when the characters were just so bold and out there with their statements of truth and frustration. They would say things that you would love to say but typically hold ur tongue instead to keep the peace. lol

I would've given this movie a higher number but what brought it down for me was there was such a build up to what this couple was going to do or maybe not do and then the end just sort of fell flat for me. I would've liked seeing how they were living post covid lock down. But still worth a watch. Anne and the male character are great to watch together!

I wasn't able to climb from underneath my weighted blanket to reach the remote, so I had to tolerate this garbage for two hours. 2 stars for Annie Hanthaway. Everything else here is absolute waste of time.

After suffering through Malcolm & Marie, I returned to this quarantine-inspired comedy, Locked Down, which premiered on HBO Max in January. Locked Down is another movie filmed in these COVID-quarantine times like Malcolm & Marie, and the main stars, Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor, do the heavy-lifting of sparring with each other and embodying the malaise of being locked down. This movie is billed as a comedy and crime thriller. Let's see how funny and thrilling it actually is.

Locked Down takes place during the initial 2-week lockdown in London after the COVID-19 pandemic grabbed hold of the world. Hathaway and Ejiofor play Linda and Paxton, a couple who have been together for 10 years, but as their relationship is coming to an end, they find themselves stuck at home locked down. Linda is upwardly mobile as she's been promoted to CEO of a multi-national corporation; and Paxton feels stuck as a delivery driver due to his criminal record. Their diverging paths add tension to their relationship until those paths collide in an unexpected way. Doug Liman directs this movie, which could be construed as a romantic comedy - Liman directed The Bourne Identity and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which may give a hint as to where this is going.

When I first watched Locked Down, the Zoom calls and talk of quarantine was depressingly distracting. Ejiofor's character goes out into the street to read poetry to his neighbors who are also locked down; and Hathaway's character works from home and smokes at her window. It feels too close to home at times. Ejiofor and Hathaway argue back and forth like the couple from Malcolm & Marie, but their arguments feel substantive and have a lightness to them that's not so self-serious and self-righteous. The dialogue is funny, and Hathaway and Ejiofor have good on-screen chemistry. They pleasantly deliver their lines with such energy and wit. There are also some fun and unexpected appearances by other actors like Dule Hill, Stephen Merchant, and Ben Stiller - to name a few.

Ultimately, Locked Down is just an enjoyable trifle of a movie. If you are going to watch a movie that constantly reminds you of our COVID-times, it might as well be one that is having a little fun with it, even if it does get ridiculous. Grab a bowl of popcorn and give Locked Down a stream.