Unlocked (2017 film)

Unlocked
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Michael Apted
Produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura
Georgina Townsley
Erik Howsam
Claudia Bluemhuber
Written by Peter O'Brien
Starring Noomi Rapace
Orlando Bloom
Toni Collette
John Malkovich
Michael Douglas
Music by Stephen Barton
Cinematography George Richmond
Edited by Andrew MacRitchie
Production
company
Di Bonaventura Pictures
SRA Productions
Silver Reel
Bloom
Lipsync Productions
Distributed by Lionsgate
Release date
  • May 5, 2017 (2017-05-05) (United Kingdom)
  • September 1, 2017 (2017-09-01) (United States)
Running time
 98 minutes[1]
Country United States
United Kingdom
Language English

Unlocked is a 2017 British-American thriller film directed by Michael Apted and written by Peter O'Brien. The film stars Noomi Rapace, Orlando Bloom, Michael Douglas, John Malkovich and Toni Collette. The film was released in the United Kingdom on May 5, 2017, by Lionsgate.

Plot

After an operation in Paris failed on her watch, CIA interrogation officer Alice Racine now works in an undercover capacity at a community centre in London. The area is a known location for Islamic extremism, and information she discovers in her capacity at the centre is passed on to the security services, including MI5 Intelligence Chief Emily Knowles. Her former station chief and mentor Eric Lasch meets with her, and tells her that she shouldn’t feel guilty for the failed operation (which resulted in Algerian suicide bombers killing 24 people) and that she needs to get back into the field. Meanwhile, the Central Intelligence Agency and MI5 receive intel that radical preacher Imam Yazid Khaleel is planning a biological attack on an American target on British soil in collaboration with terrorist and American born Islamic convert David Mercer. Racine is approached by Frank Sutter, an officer from the CIA’s London Station, who tells her she has orders from Europe Division Chief Bob Hunter to help them interrogate and break Khaleel’s courier they have captured.

In a hotel, Racine begins to interrogate the courier, a British-Moroccan man named Lateef, and is able to coax the message he is due to deliver to Mercer’s representative to confirm the attack. However, before divulging the details of the message to Sutter, she receives a call from her handler Ed Romley, who confusingly gives her the same mission brief as Sutter. Realising she has been tricked and the men she is working with are not CIA, she attempts to remove Lateef from their custody, but in an ensuing gunfight he is killed. She retreats to Lasch's apartment, but that is soon also attacked by the operatives, with Racine witnessing Lasch be fatally shot as she escapes to a safe house he informed her of previously. Upon arriving at the safe house, she apprehends burglar Jack Alcott, who is in the process of robbing the apartment. Restraining him in the bedroom, she contacts Hunter and Romley, who despite claiming to believe her, per protocol, send SCO19 officers to apprehend and bring her in. After fighting two of the officers and being tasered, she is saved by Alcott and the two manage to escape. Revealing he is a former Royal Marine who served in the Iraq War, Racine reluctantly decides to allow him to accompany her. Racine also seeks the help of Amjad, a friend and client from the community centre who drives a taxi.

She and Alcott confront Khaleel in a Moroccan restaurant, where he confesses he no longer believes in the radical extremism he promotes (with the courier message being a stand down order), but anticipates that Mercer will still go ahead with the attack. Following an associate of Lateef, Racine discovers Alcott is working with Sutter and the two fight, with Racine managing to escape after Alcott is killed by an aggrieved third party. Racine approaches Knowles, who agrees to help her and sets up an operation where Amjad stands in as the courier to meet with Mercer's representative. She reveals to Racine that intelligence from the French DGSI suggests senior parties in the CIA allowed the Paris attack to take place, as one of the victims killed in the bombings was a CIA whistle blower. Meanwhile, Romley's team track the bullets used in the killing of their men who apprehended Lateef to a AT308C sniper rifle, which is revealed to have been checked out of a Metropolitan Police armoury by corrupt MI5 operative John Wilson. Wilson is shown to be part of the team providing cover for Knowles operation, and guns down his fellow operatives as well as injuring Knowles whilst trying to kill Racine. Amjad is also killed in the crossfire.

Having survived the attack, Racine heads to a meeting point organised by Sutter, where it is revealed that Lasch is not only alive but is the main conspirator. After a brief struggle, he escapes, but is tracked by her to a warehouse outside of Wembley Stadium, where a sold out game of American football is due to be played between Portland and Oklahoma. Lasch reveals he wants the biological attack to take place, and the visiting Americans to transport the virus back home, in order to force the US Government to take the threat of biological warfare seriously. After shooting Wilson, Racine and Lasch engage in a brief fight, which ultimately results in him falling to his death and Racine disarming the virus canisters. Knowing that in light of the attack failing Mercer will attempt to flee to Syria, she is instructed by Hunter to intercept him en route. In Prague, Mercer is about to meet with a contact who will take him on the next leg of his journey, but is accosted by Racine at a tram station where she slices his femoral artery, killing him. Hunter meets with Racine and welcomes her back to active duty.

Cast

  • Noomi Rapace[2] as Alice Racine, a CIA interrogation officer
  • Orlando Bloom[3] as Jack Alcott, a small time criminal and former soldier
  • Michael Douglas[3] as Eric Lasch, the former CIA Paris Station Chief and Racine's mentor
  • John Malkovich[4] as Bob Hunter, CIA Europe Division Chief
  • Toni Collette[4] as Emily Knowles, an MI5 Intelligence Chief
  • Brian Caspe as Ed Romley, Racine's CIA handler
  • Matthew Marsh as Frank Sutter, an corrupt American intelligence officer
  • Michael Epp as David Mercer, a US born Islamic convert and terrorist
  • Philip Brodie as John Wilson, a corrupt MI5 officer and marksman
  • Tosin Cole as Amjad, a young taxi driver and friend of Racine
  • Jessica Boone as Romley's Assistant
  • Adelayo Adedayo as Noma, Amjad's wife
  • Makram Khoury as Imam Yazid Khaleel, a radical Islamic preacher and terrorist leader

Production

On September 23, 2010, Warner Bros. optioned the film, with Lorenzo di Bonaventura set to produce.[5] On April 7, 2014, Noomi Rapace joined the cast, with Mikael Håfström set to direct.[2] On September 7, 2014, Michael Douglas and Orlando Bloom joined the cast.[3] On November 6, 2014, John Malkovich and Toni Collette joined the cast.[4] Principal photography began on November 3, 2014, and ended on January 17, 2015.[6][7]

Release

The film was released in the United Kingdom on May 5, 2017, by Lionsgate.[8] The film was released in the United States on September 1, 2017.[9]

Reception

Critical reception

The film received negative reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 25% based on 52 reviews, with an average rating of 4.2/10.[10] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 46 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[9]

Guy Lodge of Variety was not impressed with the film and said that, "Years on from The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Noomi Rapace is still ready for action, though this middling thriller lags behind her."[1] Stephen Dalton of The Hollywood Reporter said that, "Despite a starry international cast headed by Noomi Rapace, John Malkovich, Orlando Bloom, Toni Collette and Michael Douglas, this functional contemporary spy yarn is played way too straight by 76-year-old British director Michael Apted (The World Is Not Enough), who brings nothing fresh to the formula besides the minor innovation of dropping an action heroine into a male-dominated field."[11] Simran Hans of The Guardian gave the film one out of five stars and said that, "A cast of stars proves unable to lift this derivative, turgid terrorism thriller."[12]

References

  1. 1 2 Lodge, Guy (2017-05-05). "'Unlocked' Review: A Middling Vehicle For Noomi Rapace". Variety. Retrieved 2017-11-30.
  2. 1 2 Fleming, Mike (2014-04-07). "Noomi Rapace To Star, Mikael Hafstrom Helm Spy Thriller 'Unlocked'". Deadline. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  3. 1 2 3 "Toronto: Michael Douglas, Orlando Bloom Join 'Unlocked'". The Hollywood Reporter. 2014-09-07. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  4. 1 2 3 Yamato, Jen (2014-11-06). "John Malkovich, Toni Collette Join Michael Apted Thriller 'Unlocked' – AFM". Deadline. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  5. ↑ McNary, Dave (2010-09-23). "Warner Bros. keyed to 'Unlocked'". Variety. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  6. ↑ "On the Set for 11/3/14: Keanu Reeves Starts Daughter of God, Magic Mike XXL & Ant-Man Wrap". SSN Insider. 2014-11-03. Archived from the original on 2014-12-07. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  7. ↑ "On the Set for 12/8/14: James Bond Pic Spectre & Hateful Eight Start Shooting, Vin Diesel Wraps Last Witch Hunter". SSN Insider. 2014-12-08. Archived from the original on 2016-05-14. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  8. ↑ Acevedo, Yoselin (2017-02-10). "'Unlocked': First Trailer for Noomi Rapace & Orlando Bloom's Thriller". IndieWire. Retrieved 2017-02-18.
  9. 1 2 "Unlocked Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2018-02-21.
  10. ↑ "Unlocked (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 2018-04-17.
  11. ↑ Dalton, Stephen (2017-05-03). "'Unlocked' Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2017-11-30.
  12. ↑ Hans, Simran (2017-05-07). "Unlocked review – plenty of talent, nothing to work with…". The Guardian. Retrieved 2017-11-30.
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