Blu-ray Review: UNLOCKED Is A Spy Thriller With An Impressive Cast

Unlocked is a fuss-free spy thriller from veteran director Michael Apted. Noomi Rapace plays a CIA agent left out in the cold and on the run, criss-crossed and double-crossed as she attempts to stop a terrorist attack in London. You know the drill.

This spy-caper may not be wholly original and a lot of the plot points might be obvious, but it’s an efficient thriller with an impressive line-up in front of the camera. Rapace is flanked by  Orlando Bloom, Toni Collette, John Malkovich and Michael Douglas, who all add considerable weight to their generic roles, showing that casting the right actor can improve mediocre material.

Rapace is good in the lead, a female Bourne-type with a painful past and she can kick ass with the best of them. God bless Orlando Bloom for attempting to toughen up his image, he makes a valiant effort as the military tough guy, but he’d best stick to roughing-up Justin Bieber in dimly-lit nightclubs. Malkovich has fun as the CIA boss trying to keep tabs on Rapace as she zig-zags across London and Michael Douglas does what he does best – adding that touch of Douglas class to every movie he’s in.

Michael Apted is a man who has directed a wealth of different movies throughout the years, helming such varied titles as Coal Miner’s Daughter, Gorillas In The Mist, The World Is Not Enough and The Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader (to name but a few). You can’t go wrong with such credits as that and Apted is a safe pair of hands – even if Unlocked is a little light on visual flourish.

Unspectacular but entertaining, Unlocked is an enjoyable frills-free spy thriller. It might lack in originality but it hits the right notes and it’ll keep you hooked for ninety minutes.