Locked Down Review: 6 Ups & 4 Downs

1. The Ending Falls Flat

As mediocre as the actual heist is, the finale does reach an interesting dramatic impasse - a stalemate for our "heroes" which seems primed to bear entertainingly unpredictable results.

Except screenwriter Steven Knight unfortunately can't write a clever way out of this final hurdle for Linda and Paxton, and so instead conjures up a quick, contrived solution to the problem.

One suspects Knight was trying to be cute and keep the mood light, but the final piece of the heist puzzle instead comes across as lazily convenient, and not remotely earned by everything that preceded it.

But if you've gone along with the movie up to its finale, it at least won't be enough to sink the entire thing.

Locked Down may not be an early contender for one of 2021's best movies, but it does get the job done for the most part. And so, here's what Liman and his cast got right...