In theory, gathering together a top team of talent on either side of the camera should be more than enough to elevate even the flimsiest or formulaic projects above mediocrity by sheer strength of will alone, but that was far from the case when it came to 2017’s insipid action thriller Unlocked.
Directed Michael Apted, the esteemed veteran who’d enjoyed a rich and varied career behind the camera that encompassed Gorillas in the Mist, The World Is Not Enough, and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader to name but three, the basic setup was the sort of thing you’ve seen in a thousand unremarkable shoot ’em ups.
A CIA agent hit with a lowly assignment after failing to prevent a terrorist attack seeks to redeem herself when she stumbles upon another imminent threat, forcing her on the run with classified information she can’t allow to fall into the wrong hands – and only a mysterious former soldier is willing to offer any assistance.
So far, so standard, but the presence of proven ass-kicker Noomi Rapace in the lead role, backed by able support that included Orlando Bloom, Michael Douglas, John Malkovich, and Toni Collette raised expectations for Unlocked, which it resolutely failed to meet after receiving respective Rotten Tomatoes scores of 26 and 42 percent from critics and audiences.
It flopped at the box office to rub even further salt into the wounds, but at least star-studded actioners can always be relied upon to find a second wind on Netflix. As per FlixPatrol, Unlocked has taken aim at the platform’s most-watched charts, and while it’s a diverting enough way to spend 98 minutes, the names involved should have delivered something substantially superior.