Why The Locked Down Reviews Are So Bad

Why The Locked Down Reviews Are So Bad

Locked Down serves as HBO Max’s first big feature film of 2021, but it falls short of expectations. Here’s a roundup of reviews thus far.

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Why The Locked Down Reviews Are So Bad

Locked Down features a stellar cast as well as an interesting premise, but the romantic comedy is being met by an underwhelming reception in terms of reviews. Directed by Doug Liman, the feature film starring Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor was acquired by HBO Max and released as an HBO Max Original on January 14. The movie, which was originally titled Lockdown, was filmed in London during the city’s vast shutdowns due to the pandemic. The struggles in production were fitting considering it focuses on a heist that takes place in a world where heavily-populated areas were forced to quarantine.

Set in a world where the coronavirus is also rampant, Locked Down follows Linda (Hathaway) and Paxton (Ejiofor), a married couple in London who are on the brink of separation before the mandatory lockdown. Where Linda’s career is thriving, Paxton’s life is at a stalemate since his criminal record ruined his aspirations. When Paxton is hired as the delivery driver to handle an extremely valuable jewel transfer at Harrods in London, Linda realizes her morally corrupt CEO has commissioned the action. The couple then decides to put marital matters aside to carry out a dangerous heist.

Locked Down currently holds an underwhelming 52% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. The audience score, at the time of writing, is in the same range, hovering just below 60%. Though viewers have recognized the chemistry between Hathaway and Ejiofor, it’s a clear consensus that the story lacks focus. In addition, many critics have pointed out that its rushed production harmed its potential as many aspects of the narrative aren’t well thought out. Here’s what some of the most negative reviews had to say:

The Guardian:

For not only would the film have been an insufferable bore without a global pandemic raging on but given the added stresses and strains and possible danger involved in making it now, its existence feels like even more of an offence, a head-smashingly redundant waste of time, talent, energy and resources, a shockingly early yet entirely convincing contender for worst film of the year.

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RogerEbert.com:

But in spite of the available chemistry and charisma from Hathaway and Ejiofor, “Locked Down” proves to be a bewildering mess, in part because of choices made in how to tell a story that mixes two-hander drama with a heist. The creative limits aren’t even due to the pandemic, but from Knight and director Doug Liman who make this story more stagnant than it has to be.

Vanity Fair:

Yet as written by Steven Knight (and directed, with little style, by Doug Liman), Locked Down is a grating yank into a nasty headspace, a pompous sort of fury. There is no empathy for the common cause of quarantine in the film, only spittle and outrage and corny existential angst.

New York Times:

But mostly, the film already feels like a relic. Its pandemic jokes — toilet paper hoarders, Zoom freezes — wore thin by summer. We’re meant to identify with Linda and Paxton, to laugh knowingly as the pair descend into isolation-induced hysteria. Instead, the film evokes the era of the cursed “Imagine” video, when celebrities deemed the coronavirus a great equalizer while groaning about going stir-crazy at their villas.

Even though the majority of critics and viewers agreed that Locked Down missed the mark, many admired the star-studded cast. Aside from the co-leads, Liman’s movie features supporting figures such as Stephen Merchant, Mindy Kaling, Lucy Boynton, Ben Stiller, and Ben Kingsley. While some of the aspects centered on the heist seemed to fall flat, viewers took an interest in the complicated lives of the characters. For some, it was a light and fun film that put a new spin on quarantine life. Here’s what some of the more positive reviews had to say about Locked Down:

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Slate:

This structural imbalance is offset by the charisma of both lead performances: Hathaway and Ejiofor seem excited to play edgier, less nice people than they often get the chance to, and the early scenes of them locking horns in their claustrophobic (if posh) flat generate enough energy to carry the movie almost all the way over the finish line.

Entertainment Weekly:

If Hathaway and Ejiofor are sometimes saddled with talky theatrical monologues that sound far more like a screenwriter’s fever dream than the words of any ordinary human, they also commit in a way that manages to makes the leaps in tone and logic work, probably better than they should. (There’s a great trio of terrible bosses in Zoom form too, between Bang, Ben Stiller, and Ben Kingsley, amongst the winky sprinkling of celebrity whack-a-mole cameos.)

The Wrap:

Ejiofor and Hathaway make a great pairing; they get memorable moments separately, from his regaling their cozy block of townhouses with poetry to her sneaking cigarettes and trying to keep it together during those deadening work calls, but they absolutely click together as a couple who think they’ve reached the end of their rope, only to discover that maybe they haven’t.

Even if Locked Down doesn’t get critical acclaim buzz, the cast along will surely give it suitable attention on HBO Max. With subscriptions on the rise due to HBO Max’s streaming rights to Warner Bros.’ slate of upcoming movies, Liman’s new movie will certainly get enough exposure. In this day and age, more and more filmmakers are comfortable developing projects knowing full well that it will bypass theaters. Despite Locked Down’s underwhelming reviews, the new business model will continue to focus on how many people click to view these types of titles.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/locked-down-reviews-negative-rotten-tomatoes-reason/

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