Netflix's Korean Thriller: Unlocked (2021)
Have you ever misplaced your phone and started to panic (I have)? Has somebody ever found your phone and returned it (unfortunately, this was not the case with me)? And if they did, could you trust that they didn't do something to it?
Unlocked is a Korean thriller on Netflix, which may make you hold your phone just a little bit closer to you. Nami finds out what happens when she begins to get her entire life threatened after she loses her smartphone containing all her personal information. So while this does have some mystery elements to it, it doesn't play out like a mystery.
We learn pretty quickly on in the movie who the perpetrator is. At thrills, those come from the chase and the unknown element that our main character Nami doesn't know. But we, as the audience, do.
It's kind of like one of my favorite shows, Luther. We see the perp very early on in that series, and then the story revolves around the pursuit to catch them or to also watch the bad guy do more bad things. Either way, though, this creates excitement that's not dependent on any sort of mystery for us to solve.
The beginning of this is frenetic and rushed. We see Nami's life through her interactions on her phone, showing us in pretty quick fashion how much of her life is tied to the device. She wakes up to an alarm on it, checks her emails and posts to social media while then getting ready for the day.
Then there's the barrage of texts, phone calls, photos, more posts, paying things. I mean, you get the idea. She's very dependent on her phone, probably like a lot of us are.
One night, Nami loses her phone, and that's when we discover that a not so nice person has picked it up. And from there, we watch them scheme and wreak havoc with a sense that more and more danger is lurking on the horizon. Another story arc the movie introduces is a series of bodies buried in a remote location.
And this is where we meet a detective who is a little obsessive over some of the stuff that he finds at the crime scene. I wish we would have gotten more development on the ideas presented on this through the course of the movie, because we get enough to understand the detective's motivations and feelings. But there's a lot more that feels like it could be unearthed to create more depth for the character and then even more weight for the story.
The acting is pretty good all the way around. Nami is mostly a bubbly persona, kind of happy-go-lucky, not necessarily paying attention to all the potential dangers that are around her. She's a trusting person, which is a nice quality, but one that often gets on your nerves, especially in crime thriller movies.
We meet another character named Joon Young, and he's kind of shy and quiet, but also has an outgoing side to him as well. I like the presence that he brings to the screen and the tone that he creates when he's in a scene. Sometimes he seems like he could be a best friend kind of guy.
Other times he feels a bit too shady or maybe even clingy. The film's just under two hours and it moves along pretty efficiently, thanks mostly to a tight story that continues to increase the tension as the minutes pass. And again, we know who the perpetrator is.
So the suspense and the anxiety that comes from the anticipation of what's going to happen next and how long it's going to take a character to figure out that they need to be more careful and aware. As the story reaches its climax, there is a huge urgency that's created. I was on the edge of my seat.
There's a time limit to certain actions. And then as one segment of a scene is taking place, there's background action going on that's just as anxiety ridden as what's going on in the foreground. I mean, it's wonderfully stressful and I could feel my heart just start to beat faster.
And I think there's parts in this that may make you want to yell at the characters a bit, mostly because we're in the know and they're not. And then when confronted with certain actions or knowledge, they don't act in the way that we want them to. And other times the characters might make some dumb decisions, especially when it appears there's a very simple solution that they just don't take.
For me, when I yelled at the TV and talked to the characters, this just meant I was totally invested in it all. And I felt a connection with the narrative. I thought that was a great place to be.
From a technical perspective, the graphics or maybe their animations that are shown on the phone, I think they're pretty impressive. Some things move at lightning speed, just illustrating how quickly actions can be manipulated when the computer portion of the phone is hacked. For as fun and exciting as the story arc with Nami is, the arc with the detective, it really could use more love.
The crime that he's investigating is dark and twisted. But most of the time, the info and even the brutality of the crime, it's either downplayed or not fully exploited for the overall story. And again, just like the elements with the detective's life here, there could be more to show that would make the story as a whole just more dreadful and unsettling.
I think Unlocked is definitely good for a one time watch, especially if you're in the mood for some thrills. The story progresses fast enough to feel anxiety, but also could slow down a bit to just spend more time with certain elements that would make the plot as a whole feel more disconcerting. There's great acting from the two leads showcasing semi-extreme personalities that are total opposites, which then creates an aura of unease and building tension.
And while this can serve as a cautionary tale about cybersecurity and the amount of access to your personal info that a phone has, it's most beneficial at establishing an immense creep factor from an ominous stranger. I give 8½ over 10.
Thanks for your time.