Unlocked
Dustin Chase
Don’t be fooled by that all-star cast, or even the lure of a having a real female Jason Bourne type film (Sorry Atomic Blond, you failed). Unlocked is directed by Michael Apted, who, if you know anything about his films: Chasing Mavericks, Enough, The World is Not Enough, are all forgettable. Unlocked is slightly more entertaining than the last Bourne film, mostly thanks to the Rapace (Prometheus, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) performance. The script is by Peter O’Brien who has no screenwriting experience. His only credits are on Halo video games, so this project was really doomed even before it was cast. Somehow a talented cast emerges to at least keep you watching, but an action film needs a lot more than just characters who are not what they seem.
Following a disastrous terrorist operative that left 24 civilians dead in Paris, CIA interrogator Alice Racine is now a desk bound informant at her own request. Her MI5 contact Emily Knowles (Collette) keeps her up to speed on the cooperation between American and British intelligence. Alice is ordered to report for duty when a messenger, believed to be carrying a specific message for a terror plot is apprehended. She quickly assesses that things are not what they seem, understanding her compromised position, she flees, leaving both governments suspecting her of flipping sides. Her US handler Eric Lasch (Douglas) sends her to a safe house where burglar Jack Alcott (Bloom) is at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Two of the best scenes in this cheesy film involve Oscar nominated Collette (The Sixth Sense, Little Miss Sunshine) who has for years been downgraded to nothing more than just a supporting player in B-rate movies. A skype call with the Aussie actress and Malkovich is brief but entertaining as the squabble over intelligence and jurisdiction. In another surprise moment, Collette finds herself armed with a machine gun, and not afraid to use it. For the first hour, big name supporting players continue to showing up, giving the viewer hope this might turn out to be something worthwhile. Bloom is the real low point, known more for his celebrity than acting chops, he only distracts from the other heavy hitters.
While I can’t call Unlocked predictable, because it prides itself on doing the opposite of what you expect, most of the “turns” are never justified or grounded. Outside of the actors you recognize, there are an extraordinary amount of named characters here with so many allegiances, the story does require an amount of focus from the audience. It’s not a satisfying thriller, nor is it a particularly well shot or blocked on either. The filmmakers have neither the budget or the expertise to make Unlocked anything more than a cheesy thriller you might catch on a flight when you have seen everything else.
Final Thought
Suspenseful in a ridiculous way, but never satisfying.
2 thoughts on “Unlocked”
No offense, but I’m kind of getting tired of the unjustified attacks on Orlando Bloom’s acting skills. To me Orlando Bloom is a great actor and the best part of this film. He and Michael Douglas made the film for me. Also, I liked Noomie – finally not a typical “Hollywood Blond” with Botox all over the face. Bloom is “known more for his celebrity than acting chops,” – Huh? Well, maybe in USA where the audience and film critics are not exactly the best educated on Acting subject. They watch too many comics IMO. And, boy, do they want to jump at any actor /actress if they happened to have good looks! Here, in Europe, Bloom is known as an actor first. As a World known actor. I’m not talking about the trolls, irrational haters and the public that tries to judge anyone’s acting by own taste preferences. In reality Bloom has a tremendous talent, great acting skills and abilities that are trained on a highest professional level. His “critics” should try to get a scholarship like he did when he was taking his first steps as an actor. And get parts in movies like he has in his career. Then we talk. And one has to be in a deep denial to ignore his impressive credits in the biggest films that are already in a History of Cinema.
Sadly, the US media are obsessed on the celebs subject and they care less if an actor is good or bad. All they are interested in is to find some “dirty story” and feed the public with it. And if they don’t find a dirty story, they will make it up and will push hard the audience to swallow it.
Bloom “only distracts from the other heavy hitters?” – LOL. Bloom is a heavy hitter. He took the attention even in the small amount of time his Jack character was given on screen. And his role in this film was to distract. He did his job wonderfully. Too bad it was not enough of the screen time for him. Big mistake to miss the opportunity to explore the character more. Bloom made him more interesting than Jack was in the script and they should have developed the whole story for him and intertwine Alice’s story with this. But it’s not a big budget movie and it’s hard to find a good script lately in Hollywood. Studios go for remakes. Not the original, fresh script-writing.
I agree that the script was weak. It was hard to work with it to make it really entertaining. And it was predictable to me as well. But, as I said, I liked the actors’ work. Maybe except of Malkovich’s – he was having fun of his own but it felt forced and from a different movie to me. The camera work was good, I liked the OST and the colors/cinematography part. The stunt choreography was nicely done. Overall, I didn’t feel sorry that I saw it in a movie theatre.
Orlando Bloom’s films reach both American and European audiences. There are not different versions of the same films, shown to different countries. Nor are there hidden Oscar winning performances of Bloom’s across the pond that American critics have never seen. Bloom is a celebrity, more than an actor. He demonstrates this with the pop-stars he dates, the clubs he attends and the feuds he creates. I am a huge Lord of the Rings fan, and under the guidance of Peter Jackson, he was really good in the trilogy. However, flipping through Bloom’s filmography: Troy was a terrible film, Elizabethtown a big disappointment, Ned Kelly was awful, the entire Pirates series was one big eye roll of family entertainment (which I am personally not interested in). His filmography on Rotten Tomatoes (the films that were released to mainstream). I don’t have anything against him personally, but Bloom is not of the caliber of great actors and the roles he chooses prove that time and again.