Unlocked (2017)

Directed by: Michael Apted | 98 minutes | action, drama, thriller | Actors: Noomi Rapace, Orlando Bloom, Michael Douglas, Toni Collette, John Malkovich, Matthew Marsch, Makram Khoury, Brian Caspe, Philip Brodie, Tosin Cole, Michael Epp, Tom Reed, Raffaello Degruttola

‘Unlocked’ is an action thriller about a CIA agent made according to the paint-by-numbers principle. You can recognize almost all elements of the plot from similar films. The traumatic experience of the main character that prevents proper functioning? check. The strong personal bond with a mentor/father figure? Seen! The seemingly impossible, very urgent assignment for which the main character seems the only person appropriate? Present! And don’t forget: characters who seem dead, but later in the film secretly turn out to be alive and kicking and who have been tinkering with the hero(ess) of the story all this time. ‘Unlocked’ has it.

That does not alter the fact that this film by Michael Apted does not look good. Always a valuable addition to the cast, Noomi Rapace easily plays the role of the vulnerable yet tough-as-nails Alice Racine. More than 20 people were killed in a terrorist attack in Paris two years earlier. Although she is not directly at fault – she could not possibly have prevented this attack, she still carries this heavy burden on her shoulders. She now works undercover as a social worker, passing information about illegal and potentially dangerous people to MI5. But then she’s asked to help with an important case. A courier who was supposed to deliver important information to a terrorist organization has been captured and she must get the information out of him. But it soon becomes apparent that Alice has been framed and that her clients themselves have evil intentions…

What then unfolds is a fairly predictable adventure in which no one seems to be trusted and Alice herself is also suspected. The cast – with resounding names from Toni Collette, Michael Douglas, John Malkovich and Orlando Bloom – is good, but cannot hide the shortcomings in the screenplay. Although the makers try to keep the viewer on the edge of their seat, they fail to do so after the strong first half hour, because you see every plot twist coming. ‘Unlocked’ never gets bad, but it doesn’t want to rise above mediocre. If you don’t mind that, but want to be entertained with a movie whose story you can’t retell after a week, ‘Unlocked’ isn’t a bad choice.