‘Unlocked’ sees CIA agent Alice Racine (Noomi Rapace) being called in to “unlock” a prisoner in an effort to save countless lives from a bio-terror attack in London.
While questioning the suspect, she uncovers
not only vital info, but that she’s been used as part of a ruse. She spends the rest of the movie trying to get the info to the real CIA. While spy thrillers are nothing new, having a female-led film is something of a rarity. While Rapace’s performance feels icy and far-off at first, once her back story is revealed, it understandable it also creates depth. She is also one impressive CIA agent. Rapace is very realistic in all the action scenes and fully inhabits the character she is portraying.
The supporting cast is exceptional with Orlando Bloom, Toni Collette, John Malkovich and Michael Douglas. Apted really gets great performances from each of them and the actors are fully engaged in the seriousness of the film’s premise.
Furthermore, the screenwriters do a great job of giving the actors meaty dialogue and the twist and turns within the film are mostly unexpected. And when the real antagonist is revealed it comes out of left field which is a job well done for any screenwriter. The action scenes are filled with a ton of tension and filmed well. Nothing annoys me more than watching a fight scene and the director using the shaky cam technique to hide the fact that he/ she can’t film a fight scene properly.
The cinematography is also very beautiful with the panned shots of the London cityscape and beautiful shots of the inner city. Overall, it really is amazing to watch a film where the men are placed in secondary roles and the women in the film are the ones saving the day. Rapace really gives a stellar performance and I’m looking forward to seeing what she does next.
My only complaint with this one with out giving to much away, once you loose audio/video during an op would you really wait for word from oversight to check on it. Plus I would assume a highly trained CIA operative would know if their gun was empty (with out a mag) Ive never held a pistol with out a mag but im sure there would be a significant difference in weight.
I GIVE IT AN B
