Locked Down (film)
Locked Down is a 2021 American romantic comedy heist film directed by Doug Liman and written by Steven Knight, and the first one to use the 2021 on-screen Warner Bros. Pictures logo. The film stars Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor, with Stephen Merchant, Mindy Kaling, Lucy Boynton, Mark Gatiss, Claes Bang, Ben Stiller, and Ben Kingsley in supporting roles. "Locked Down" follows a couple who plan to execute a heist of a jewelry store. It was written, financed, and filmed entirely during the COVID-19 pandemic. The film was released in the United States on January 14 , 2021, on HBO Max, and received mixed reviews from critics. Plot. Paxton and Linda are a disgruntled couple living in London amid the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Paxton is able to get only jobs as a delivery truck driver due to an assault arrest 10 years prior and is upset about how his life has turned out. Due to stores being shut down there are a limited amount of drivers available for high-value deliveries, so Paxton’s boss asks him to make runs under a false identity for him. Linda, who is a CEO at a marketing company, is tasked  with clearing out inventory from a fashion display she planned at the nearby Harrods department store. She soon realizes their delivery schedules at the store overlap, and Paxton would not get past the security checkpoint Linda has set up. Linda discloses that there is a £3 million diamond in the vault at Harrods that has been sold to an anonymous buyer, and the store keeps a duplicate on location. She and Paxton agree to take the real diamond for themselves and send the fake one to the buyer in New York City, splitting the sale between themselves and the  National Health Service. Upon making it to the store, Linda and Paxton retrieve the diamond and swap it out with the fake. However they are confronted by Donald, a former co-worker of Linda's she was told to fire earlier in the week. Donald had called the police after learning of Paxton's fake identity. Linda reveals their plan, and Donald agrees to lie for them. Paxton and Linda, who originally planned to go their separate ways, decide to reevaluate their relationship. Then the COVID lockdown is extended by another two weeks. Production. The film was announced in September  2020 as "Lockdown", with Doug Liman directing a screenplay that Steven Knight had written that July over a dare. Anne Hathaway was announced to star, with filming set to start later that month in London. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Ben Stiller, Lily James, Stephen Merchant, Dulé Hill, Jazmyn Simon, and Mark Gatiss were also announced as cast members. In October 2020, Mindy Kaling, Ben Kingsley, and Lucy Boynton were added to the cast of the film, with Boynton replacing James. Claes Bang, Sam Spruell and Frances Ruffelle were revealed as members of the cast in January 2021. The film was shot over  the course of 18 days. Due to the limited resources and short production window the order of several scenes needed to be adjusted, forcing Hathaway and Ejiofor to tape their un-memorized lines around set. Despite initial reports it had a budget of $10 million, Liman insisted the actual cost of the film "started with a three." The UK-based company Koala FX was responsible for the advance clean up. John Powell scored the film making it the first time he worked with Doug Liman since "Fair Game" in 2010. Release. The film was quickly acquired by HBO Max  in December 2020, with the intention for an early 2021 release. It was released on January 14, 2021 and is the very first film to have the official revamped version of the 2019 Warner Bros. Pictures logo. Reception. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, "Locked Down" holds an approval rating of 41% based on 116 reviews, with an average of 5.00/10. The website's critics consensus states, ""Locked Down" combines a heist caper, a relationship drama, and pandemic-era timeliness to produce a film that's frustratingly less than the sum of its parts." According to Metacritic, which sampled 33  mainstream critics and calculated a weighted average score of 42 out of 100, the film received "mixed or average reviews". David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film a B and wrote: "Yes, "Locked Down" is a heist movie, though one that's more concerned with 'stealing back the things that you feel life owes you than it is with priceless jewels... COVID-19 serves as a fitting backdrop for an amiable romp about the freedoms we take for granted, and the confines that dictated our lives long before we were forced to spend them at home." Nick Allen of "RogerEbert.com" gave  the film 2 out of 4 stars, writing that "in spite of the available chemistry and charisma from Hathaway and Ejiofor, "Locked Down" proves to be a bewildering mess." Erik Nielsen of "Little White Lies" criticised the film and wrote: "a tone-deaf pandemic crime caper" and "affluent couple plot an audacious diamond heist in the Covid movie absolutely no one needed" scoring the film with a 1/5 rating.