Deadlock (2021)

Directed by: Jared Cohn | 90 minutes | action, thriller | Actors: Patrick Muldoon, Bruce Willis, Matthew Marsden, Michael DeVorzon, Ava Paloma, Kelcey Rose, Chris Cleveland, Douglas S. Matthews, Kelly Lynn Reiter, Jamal Trulove, Jared Bankens, Billy Jack Harlow, Lorenzo Antonucci, Adam Huel Potter, Francis Cronin, Sam Jordan

‘Deadlock’ begins with a police raid on a (presumably) drug house. Shots are heard, there are deaths. The shooting is deliberately left vague, because later in the film there appear to be different versions of this event. In any case, the fact is that one of the residents in the house is shot dead, the other – his brother – is arrested. The father of the two boys – the criminal Ron Whitlock – wants revenge, because he believes his sons have been wronged. The fact that he unceremoniously shoots the two police officers standing at his front door is not enough.

Meanwhile, we meet Mack. Mack lives on a houseboat, had a bad day last night and has a hangover to beat. Nevertheless, he just goes to work. Mack is a welder at a hydroelectric power station. Given his military past and the planned hijacking, there are certain people who would rather not have seen him make an appearance today, but hey, you’re either the hero of an action thriller or you’re not.

And now for the surprise of ‘Deadlock’: the role of Mack is played by Patrick Muldoon, the revenge-seeking criminal Ron is Bruce Willis and not the other way around, which is perhaps more obvious. Yep, Willis is the villain in this revenge movie. Most screen time goes to Muldoon. In the maze of corridors, stairs and small spaces (the setting of this film, Lake Blackshear Dam, in Warwick, Georgia, is used fantastically) he defuses one after another of the crooks recruited by Ron. Willis sits princely in an office chair for much of the film, barking his threats at his mates. Is there real danger from him? That is disappointing. And Ron is not really unsympathetic either; as the story progresses, you get a sense of understanding for his actions, though flooding an entire district is grossly exaggerated – and that’s an understatement. His sympathy for one of the female hostages seems genuine, although he later causes her twice as much grief by killing her husband – one of the police officers involved in his son’s murder.

The special effects are low-budget, which you can expect from a B-movie like this, no ketchup or red paint, but digitally added blood later, which is sometimes noticeable and takes you out of the film. The choreography of the action scenes is also disappointing; more bullets miss their target than they hit and at times the persons firing them don’t even seem to be heading in the direction of the target. The added storyline about the teenagers who just happened to be on a school trip to the hydroelectric plant just today and are all in the wrong place at the wrong time doesn’t add much suspense.

A plus is that the director continuously keeps the momentum going. Often the reactions of the characters are more human, more realistic, than in similar films (see, for example, the female hostage mentioned earlier). ‘Deadlock’ looks away easily, it’s a well-made B-movie and with a little good will you can still see a tribute to the important work that people do in a hydroelectric power station.