Here’s the logline for Locked, a movie with a premise so simple, yet deviously executed, especially in the context of today’s society.

A thief breaking into a luxury SUV realizes that he has slipped into a sophisticated game of psychological horror.

So what you end up with is Anthony Hopkins terrorizing Bill Skarsgård inside a luxury SUV. Skarsgård plays Eddie, a punk who has no money and has to resort to crime to pay his bills. He’s got a daughter that he’s trying to be a better dad for, but he ends up in a bind getting his van fixed. While he’s walking around trying to scrounge up the money to pay for his van, he sees a hyper-luxury SUV sitting for the taking. It’s unlocked.

The decision to get into the SUV will change Eddie’s life forever. Once it locks and Eddie realizes he’s trapped, a voice comes over the speaker, that of Anthony Hopkins’ William. He wants to teach Eddie (and the rest of society for that matter) a lesson on how to act and how we should treat criminals. William has a sick sense of justice that comes from an emotional and physical wound at the hand of criminals. Make no mistake, this isn’t your average “be careful what you wish for” story, though. It evolves (or devolves) into the most distilled version of a man fighting for his life in a trap.

The long and the short of it means that you’re getting Skarsgård vs. Hopkins in a battle of wills that surrounds an SUV. Eddie gets trapped in the car and terrorized, but the terror doesn’t stay in the car. William can take control of the car and drive it around remotely. As it goes on, the psychological terror extends from just being locked in the car, to loud yodeling music, to the heat being turned up to 100%, and even the car getting used as a weapon. It comes to a boiling point when William goes after Eddie’s family. Now you’d think that’s the worst thing that can happen to someone, but it keeps going past that point. That was my main gripe with Locked that the stakes raise and raise and raise, but the movie is trying to prove that Eddie’s kid is the most important thing to him.

For the film to continue with the psychological manipulation and punishment after that point is kind of overkill. Luckily, Anthony Hopkins isn’t just a voice on the other side of a phone. He gets involved in the action in the latter stages of the film and seeing him and Bill Skarsgård face off, even for a bit is a real treat.

The premise of the movie does peter out as it goes on, but for such a simple story, it surprisingly holds up. You’ll be horrified by some of the stuff that Eddie puts his body through, but it never verges into Saw-like torture. Skarsgård does a good job of playing off what William is making him go through, acting like almost anyone would in the situation.

While the premise wears itself thin as the film goes on, the explosive finale of Locked does provide some catharsis for the story overall, giving us all a lesson to learn about how to parent and be a better person. Letting revenge and anger cloud our minds is never a good thing. Between a solid performance from Bill Skarsgård and Anthony Hopkins doing the opposite of phoning it in, Locked is a fun car ride thriller.

Locked releases in theaters on March 21st, 2025.

For more Reviews, make sure to check back to That Hashtag Show.

Keep Reading:

‘Snow White’ – Rachel Zegler Electrifies A Mostly Faithful Adaptation [Review]