The Locksmith - Movie Review

The Locksmith is an intriguing independent film that I held out great hope for. At the beginning of the film, we hear a brief introduction from an individual upon whom the film purports to be based. I am not sure if that was intended as humor or truth, but it felt like neither.

Mike (Anslem Richardson) is on work release. We meet him inside the joint, reading literature while his bunk mate has other, baser needs to tend to. Mike's morning prison ritual trudges along without dialogue (and was the most engaging part of the film). When he is finally released to go to work, Mike commutes to the storefront of a large locksmith. He drives the truck, even though he is supposed to be working inside the store.

Mike is dispatched to a lock-out, interrupting his routine of spying on his ex-girlfriend. When he arrives at the lock-out, he is duped by Margo (Ana Reeder) into picking the lock of her boyfriend's apartment. After realizing his mistake, Mike is further duped into stalking the boyfriend, Charles (Stephen Rannazzisi), who runs a local art gallery. Mike's entire day is spent falling in love with Margo, who suspects Charles of cheating.

The concept of The Locksmith works for me. It had some good qualities, to include an irritating buddy, Jimmy (Cesar De Leon), the only decent character. However, the film has major issues that made it feel like a waste of time. The characters were flat and unrealistic. The project ended up feeling more like a prisoner fantasy than a love story. In fact, it might have been better if the alarm goes off at the end, and our prisoner wakes up in his bed realizing the whole day was a dream. But even then, the characters didn't matter enough to capture my imagination.

Richardson wasn't bad, he at least attempted to bring some credibility to a failed character. Reeder was forgettable. I am not familiar with her, but hope she has a better role at some point so I can get a better gauge on her talent. De Leon was a foul-mouthed buddy who had very few lines, but captured the stereotypical New Yorker with some a touch of humor.

At 88 minutes, The Locksmith should feel like a film short. Because the film gets tedious at times, it feels longer. The version I watched wasn't rated, but would probably receive a PG-13 for language and adult situations. According to IMDb, the film is rated R. I'm not sure why the strict rating.

I was disappointed that The Locksmith took a charming idea and wasted it on a junk script. The hackneyed dialogue, flat characters, lack of credibility and tedious situations all added up to failure. These fundamental problems would require an entire rework of the script. The actors might be alright...it was hard to judge based on the material they had to work with. Richardson managed to be mildly engaging in spite of his weak role. Find something else. 4.5/10.

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