Mark Reviews Movies: THE LOCKSMITH

The Locksmith, Screen Media Films

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Review by Mark Dujsik | February 2, 2023

The main problem with The Locksmith is probably a case of too many screenwriters attempting to do too many things. Here, we get a movie that wants to be a twisty, noir-like thriller (with a couple of genre classics playing on televisions in the background, just in case we miss the homage) and a grounded character study about trying to make up for past mistakes and lost time. There's no reason, of course, that a movie couldn't succeed at simultaneously being both of these stories. For whatever reason, though, this one doesn't quite work as either, because it shortchanges both angles of its storytelling.

That's too bad, because there's plenty of promise in either element of its central plot. That revolves around Miller Graham (Ryan Phillippe), a locksmith who turns to crime to make more money for his new family. The prologue follows Miller and his best friend Kevin (George Akram) on a nighttime robbery at a currency exchange, orchestrated and overseen by Zwick (Jeffrey Nordling). The robbery goes wrong, of course, and as it turns out, Zwick is a corrupt police detective, who shoots and kills Kevin, frames the dead man for pulling a gun on him, and threatens Miller's family if he says anything to anyone about what actually happened that night.

The bulk of the story, though, takes place ten years later, as Miller receives an early release from prison for good behavior and tries to get some kind of life back in order. It's refreshing how little the screenplay, penned by five writers (John Glosser, Ben Kabialis, Joseph Russo, and Chris Lamont), and director Nicolas Harvard care about trying to force Miller into some complication, conflict, or conundrum too quickly.

It would rather watch as he reacquaints himself with old friend and mentor Frank (Ving Rhames), who gives him a job and a place to stay. Milller is also trying to bridge the gap that has formed between himself and his wife Beth (Kate Bosworth)—not to mention his daughter Lindsay (Madeleine Guilbot), who was only an infant when he went to prison.

None of these relationships and barriers are new, obviously, but the movie takes its time with them and actually seems to care about these characters. There's a subdued quality to Frank, who offers some perspective about the differences in perspective between Miller, who spent a decade only thinking about the relationships he had upon entering prison, and Beth, who has had ten years to live her life without him. It's going to take a lot of work for Miller to even start repairing the damage to these relationships, and for her part, Beth is neither naïvely forgiving nor confrontational with this guy. This story almost settles into becoming one about these characters, their relationships, and just what steps they'll have to take to return to or find some new kind of normalcy.

It can't last, of course, because Zwick, the murderous detective, is still out there, wanting to keep Miller from telling the truth and threaten his imminent retirement. In a move that almost feels as if the screenwriters didn't fully coordinate, it turns out that Beth, who was a waitress when she met Miller and for an unspecified time after he went to prison, is also police detective. Such a career shift isn't impossible, obviously, but it's still pretty jarring and feels contrived in a way to add that layer of conflict (Zwick, after all, is close enough to Beth to arrange some "accident" at work, as he threats Miller with when the two reunite).

Central to the actual plot is another reunion: between Miller and his dead best friend's younger sister April (Gabriela Quezada). She has gotten herself into an exploitative and abusive arrangement with Garrett (Charlie Weber), a local real estate mogul and sex trafficker. April's plan is for Miller to rob Garrett during one of his parties, so that she can use the money to escape his clutches. Frank is the voice of reason, reminding Miller that he has his own family and future to worry about first, but as Beth points out, he's too good a person not to care about someone in trouble: That's what she loves about him and why she had to let him go, too.

Again, there's some solid, thoughtful character work here—not only in terms of the writing, which does allow these characters to discuss matters that have nothing to do with who's in trouble with whom or how someone has betrayed someone else, but also in these performances. Phillippe is solid as a decent man who can't not help—and can't not get into trouble as a result. Bosworth brings some sensibility and verve to a role that could have otherwise been a transparent cliché, and Rhames' work pulls off a similar trick for a character who's more even more blatantly clichéd.

The actors help to consider these characters as, well, characters and not mere plot devices or pawns being manipulated by the twists and turns of a plot. That the plot of The Locksmith, with its various betrayals and hidden alliances, ultimately feels rushed isn't necessarily an issue, because the movie does have its mind on developing these characters and relationships. The downside is that, in its later rush toward providing that plot, the characters and relationships do get pushed off to the side, as well.

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