Locked Down Review: 6 Ups & 4 Downs

Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor carry this uneven heist rom-com.

By Jack Pooley /

HBO Max

Movie studios are currently scrambling to figure out what to do with their big-budget blockbusters and genre films, given that most cinemas around the world are still shuttered.

Advertisement

While production on new content has certainly been slowed, it's still pressing on, with a number of projects even being rushed into production to try and capture the all-encompassing mood of the pandemic.

We had the atrocious Michael Bay-produced pandemic thriller Songbird back in December, and now director Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow) has helmed a London-set rom-com heist film starring Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Advertisement

The unsubtly-titled Locked Down stars Hathaway and Ejiofor as Linda and Paxton, an estranged couple who team up to lift a $3 million diamond from London's legendary department store Harrods as the store prepares to put its most valuable items into storage.

Though for many a cinematic reminder about the daily turmoil of COVID-19 will be the last thing they'll want to watch, Locked Down couldn't be more different from Songbird, offering up a less dread-infused, more hopeful picture of life in lockdown, and what might be waiting on the other side.

Advertisement

Reviews so far have been unsurprisingly mixed, and though Liman's film is certainly very far from perfect, it at least delivers a totally singular cinematic experience...