Locked (#667)

The movie I saw today is one for the books. It's another two person movie, starring Anthony Hopkins and Bill Skarsgard. The twist is that Hopkins, as William, never appears on screen until the last five minutes of the movie. He is a voice on a car telephone. Eddie, a deadbeat father of a young girl, in desperation breaks into a deserted car only to find himself locked in and cannot start the car.. He begins to tear things apart in an effort to escape, ignoring the constantly ringing dashboard telephone. He finally answers and it is William, the owner of the car, who has set the whole thing up as a trip for someone like Eddie. Their conversation evolves into a sociological discourse on evil and good, but neither of the men is good. William has rigged the car to inflict pain on Eddie whenever he strays from the conversation. When Eddie falls asleep exhausted from his escape efforts, William presumably sneaks and leaves food and water. Eddie uses his gun to try to shoot to break the window, but the bullet ricochets and wounds him. William, who claims to be a doctor, dresses the wound when Eddie is passed out. We never see William make his altruistic visits. Eddie begins to repent his behavior, particularly as regards his young daughter whom he neglects to pick up from school on the days he is responsible. After several days of this, William remotely starts the car and sends it on a wild ride through city streets, striking a couple of street people en route. It is a long one hour and thirty-three minute film until we finally see Hopkins, although it's really too dark to see him well, when he comes to drive the car on its final ride. It held my interest through wondering which of the two were worse.  No decision on my wondering. 69% of critics and 77% of audiences gave LOCKED a thumbs up. I think it deserved it, and cheers to Hopkins who probably sat in an easy chair reading his vicious lines in comfort for virtually the entire film. His distinctive voice carried on in fine British fashion.