When we first meet Eddie (Bill Skarsgard), a recently divorced father, he’s begging a mechanic to give him a few more days to pay the bill. No catch. And no car. Desperate, Eddie, breaks into a snazzy sport utility vehicle hoping to pawn whatever valuables he finds.
It’s here, inside the vehicle, that most of “Locked” takes place.
Directed by David Yarovesky, this gimmicky thriller is an adaptation of the Argentine film “4×4,” set in a big American city where the class divide is stark and petty crimes are aplenty.
The S.U.V. is quickly revealed as a trap staged by William (Anthony Hopkins), a deranged vigilante in the vein of the “Saw” franchise’s Jigsaw, who lashes out against those who he thinks have broken the social contract.
Hopkins’s Hannibal Lecter credentials — and William’s penchant for classical music — also give him a menacingly refined air that plays off Eddie’s rough exterior, underscoring the film’s clunky rich versus poor through-line.
Hopkins spends most of the movie offscreen, speaking to his victim through the car’s speakers and zapping him remotely through devices in the seats. Struggling to find a way out, Eddie at one point shoots a gun at the bulletproof windows, causing a bullet to strike him in the leg. William gleefully observes the younger man deteriorate from the point of view of a surveillance camera, progressively ramping up the sadism.
Still, the violent fun and games aren’t quite inventive enough to get past the single setting and its cramped leather seats. The performers hold their ground even if the script simply goes through the motions — the car-as-prison may at first come off like a new jam, and yet you’ve definitely seen it all before.
Locked
Rated R. Running time: 1 hour 35 minutes. In theaters.
