Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor are fantastic together.
Thanks to the convenience of video conferencing, Locked Down sports an ensemble cast packed with talent (I’ve purposefully kept some names out of this review to maintain surprises), but it’s truly Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor’s show, and both carry the day. Linda and Paxton are not easy characters to play, as in the wrong hands their anxiety, self-loathing, and mutual hostility could be sincerely off-putting, but the actors’ awesome charisma and perfect timing in their banter instead make them both engaging and even empathetic. Over the course of the film you get to appreciate them in all varieties of their dynamic – alone, at each other’s throats, remembering the good times, and working as a team – and each step of the way you appreciate what’s unique and what’s utterly real about them during a very strange moment in all of our lives.
