Cast:

Cast: Bill Skarsgard, Anthony Hopkins

Written By: Michael Arlen Ross based on the film 4X4

Directed By: David Yarovosky

Release Year: 2025

There Is no Known Audio Description In Existence For This Film

What Is It?: A man (Skarsgard) breaks into a fancy new car that is far more high tech than he could have ever imagined, and becomes trapped in a torture chamber on wheels, as the car’s owner (Hopkins) is determined to teach him a lesson.

What Works: Keeping in mind, I’m a blind film critic, and this film assumes I could follow the film just like anyone else because it is so inherently accessible it need not worry about the frivolity of audio description. A film, who is a single person from it tries to contact me and say “we were on a low budget”, my response would be met with laughter. If you’re paying Anthony Hopkins, you can factor accessibility into your budget. full stop.

That being said, the lack of changing locations helps to some extent, though it is a car, and cars can move. This one does move. It does also benefit from essentially one character on screen for the duration, though this film does not start at breaking into the car, and instead shows us some scenes leading up, so we can feel sorry for Skarsgard, or at least emotionally conflicted.

And, both Skarsgard and Hopkins are good actors. Skarsgard plays the criminal for a good cause well enough, and Hopkins is great at playing intelligent and evil. essentially, this guy just got trapped by Hannibal Lecter. Game on.

I suppose there’s even stakes here, as Locked really doesn’t seem to lean one particular way in whether or not Skarsgard will get to live. the direction kept his life in the balance long enough for it to work. It isn’t a terribly long film, though it isn’t necessarily expertly well paced. Even where it is, we could have probably lost five minutes and made an even tighter ride.

What Doesn’t Work: I had no idea what was going on in this car, or what it was like in the inside. He seems to be getting constantly electrocuted, and there are little compartments everywhere. Plus, Hopkins is clearly watching him,but can he see Hopkins? Or is he just a voice (no intentional spoilers here, just musing about his time in the car).

There’s also some references to his family, which would be nice to see how those are relayed, as well as at least one intentional vehicular murder that seemed to need visual context. the movie may be simplified to the point of feeling like accessibility isn’t required, but often conceptual high tech requires description, and these often come with screens we can’t see. I never knew what the car looked like, exterior or interior, and I certainly had nothing to reference when at least one person got run over. the presumption that audio description is not required here is a misguided one. Not making audio description for this is as silly as me hopping in the car and trying to drive down the road by memory. I’d probably get a few feet before hitting something, but I’m certainly never reaching my destination alive.

Why You Might Like it: you can see, and you like claustrophobic thrillers like Buried and Locke. Or, you’re just that big of a fan of Hopkins or Skarsgard.

You Might Not Like it if: you like to have context as a blind or low vision individual, or you prefer films with larger casts, and these little concept films don’t thrill you.

Final Thoughts: Sometimes, i bitch about indie movies whose budgets are probably tight and limited, but I stand by what I said. If you can afford Anthony Hopkins and Bill Skarsgard, you can afford to create accessibility for your audience. Assuming that a percentage of your potential audience will be fine without audio description, is audacious, and disturbingly locked in an outdated way of thinking.

rotten: 3.3/10