We’re back with a new film review, and this time we took a look at ‘Unlocked’. If you’re looking for a new thriller, stick around. This will contain spoilers, so you might want to go watch the film first before continuing to read this article.
‘Unlocked’ was based on the novel by Akira Shiga. The screenplay was written by Kim Tae-Joon who also directed the film. This was his directorial debut. Netflix released ‘Unlocked’ on their platform last weekend, on the 17th.
Plot
Our main girl is Lee Na-Mi, played by Chun Woo-Hee. She’s a hard worker in a start-up and helps out at her dad’s coffee shop. She’s a party girl and honestly, she looks like she’s having a grand old time.
After a boozy night out she forgets her phone on the bus. That’s where all the trouble starts. Her phone is found by the mysterious Oh Jun-Yeong (Im Si-Wan). He installs spyware on her phone and tries to get closer and closer for all the wrong reasons.
On the other side of the coin we have a duo of detectives who are looking for a serial killer. They discovered seven bodies in the mountains and believe it is tied to one person.
Meanwhile Oh Jun-Yeong is warping Na-Mi’s friendships, job and is literally watching her every move and Google search 24/7. Through meticulous planning and really making a detailed character analysis from all of the stuff on her phone, he decides to make his move.
He kidnaps her dad because he’s wary of his sudden presence. He also wants Na-Mi to be as isolated as possible.
Na-Mi meets the detectives at the phone repair shop where she first met Oh. They team up to try to catch him.
Overall
‘Unlocked’ has a really interesting premise and I feel like the set up was pretty good! We got a good sense of Na-Mi’s character and her relationship with her dad was very cute.
The performances by everyone were very convincing and Im Si-Wan has this amazing deadpan stare that really brings the chills out. He already had me convinced after watching ‘Hell is other people’ so I wasn’t surprised he would nail this role.
The phone transitions and data switches were very well done! It’s not always easy to implement the screentime in films, but they really thought it through.
The very last moment with the extreme zoom in was very unsettling but I also think that was the point.
Overall, if you like the genre I would recommend watching it. It’s definitely a good time. I think they could have done a bit more to spruce up the tension but I enjoyed watching it.
