Movie: Locked Down
I heard of this movie as a covid romcom heist. This is not precisely correct, I'd more accurately classify it as covid romantic theft. That is not a complaint.
This is a movie for Our Time. I have no idea how well this will play in Future Times, but right now, this is Our Time. This is Our Time so much that the couple is having an emotionally charged argument about many things, including what to buy at the store, Paxton goes off to the store, and Linda shouts "wait, do you have a mask?" PAXTON MAKES BREAD AT THE END, THIS IS SO MUCH OUR TIME.
Okay, so, what's it about? Paxton (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Linda (Anne Hathaway) were in a long-term relationship and living together in London. Before covid, they were having a lot of relationship problems and broke up. But then... covid lockdown. They're stuck living together. So they have the relationship history and break up stuff and job related stuff and also an ongoing plague.
Oh and also a heist. Paxton is a driver on furlough. He wants to get moved to working a clerical position. His boss needs drivers without criminal records to move merchandise that needs to be moved by drivers who don't have records. Paxton has a record. His boss makes him a fake ID and all that and brings him back from furlough to pay him under the table for it. Paxton's trying to push to get this to get him into a clerical position, the boss is dodging the whole thing, the movie very nicely sets up the boss as someone we will not mind if/when he gets screwed over by the con.
And among the things that Paxton needs to take out of department stores are things owned by the company that Linda works for and hates and plans to quit. And she's doing extra security concerns, so of course she'd catch him doing this. So they arrange to make sure that she'll get him through the system at Harrods, because she used to work there and knows everyone there and how it goes, so that he can get the delivery done and her company can get their stock out, and all is good.
And then Linda finds out that her asshole boss has sold the diamond and also was gonna try to seduce her at a previous event, you know, right after she had an experience that made her realize just what her company did, and also he wants to promote her to working out of New York very specifically so he can try to sleep with her since he knows she's single (she hasn't told anyone in her professional life she's been in a LTR with Paxton, even going back to when she was working at Harrods, because she was ashamed of his job, a bit of relationship tension that helps with the heist). So we have Paxton: delivery driver. Linda: arranger of security, knows everything about the stock, inside woman. And two situations combine where, well, the heist has been arranged and organized for them by events, they didn't do it deliberately, but if it's been dropped into their lap...
...they are gonna steal this fucking diamond. Because the heist arrangements have already been done. And now there's motive and desire. They decided that, once they are there, with the real diamond and the artificial one for display, they will decide which gets sent back to a vault in New York and which one comes home with them.
Obviously, they steal it. It's a heist movie, after all. But I'm not sure I'd call it specifically a heist movie vs a theft movie, since the heist planning isn't a big part of the plot, even if the theft itself is obviously the climax. There is even drawing a plan on a laminated calendar with a sharpie. So it has heist film elements. But I feel like a heist movie should have more focus on the elements of the theft, rather than on what brought them to do it and what caused them to make the decision. But if anyone calls it a heist movie, I wouldn't argue.
The characterization here is so good. So good. From the start, you know who Paxton and Linda are, you emphasize, you know these people. They have great chemistry. The actors are doing this thing-- it's not chewing the scenery. It's... idk, chewing the script? The script is great. They are clearly enjoying the hell out of it. It's these excellent actors doing great scenes together. So well done.
This is a relationship movie in the best way, beautifully built and beautifully done. You understand why these people got together and why they stayed together and also why they broke up. They interact so well together and their reconciliation is so natural and isn't forced in the slightest.
A+, I recommend.
This entry was originally posted at https://lannamichaels.dreamwidth.org/1178979.html.