Korean movies have gained popularity. One might say the ones that have gained a lot of fame are Korean dramas which a lot of people refer to as Kdramas. But can you blame a lot of people for liking them, especially when the content is what people want to watch?
Although I’ve watched kdramas like boys over flowers in the past(which I enjoyed) am still not drawn to kdramas because of how long they are. I might refer to this movie as a kdrama which has been forced to make a single movie. Stick with me while I review unlocked.
What the movie entails.
Unlocked is a movie written and directed by Kim-Tae-Joon. It was released in 2022.
Lee na-mi has her life turned upside down by a psychopath when she drops her phone on a bus. This stalker believes phones are supposed to be worshipped and if in any case, a user drops her phone which he is able to find then you are in for it. In this movie, Mimi affectionately called by people she is close with tries all she can to find the person who is using her phone to spoil her reputation.
Lee na-mi who is haunted must find a way to save her life and that of her father after the psychopath gets very close to her without knowing he is a murderer.
The trouble starts when the killer finds out that lee na-mi lives alone in an apartment.
What I think about the movie.
I think the storyline with unlocked is not complete. In the beginning, I said that it feels like the writer wanted to make a kdrama series and then decided against it. I know for sure it would have been more interesting if it was a long one.
At first, I was thinking it was those movies where a tech-crazy guy finds your device and then tries to blackmail you out of your money. The story twist was worth it.
Even the twist with the killer and his identity makes the movie worth the watch.
Though I might say that the movie went into sad mode very quickly when a movie starts with the happiness you can immediately predict it will not end well. It seems we have seen that in a lot of movies thus I was expecting it.
Unlocked tries to be more of a suspense movie. I will say they did a great job in some aspects but for the most of it, it was pretty obvious.
Story.
Unlocked is a suspense movie but if I am being honest for most of the movie the suspense was missing. At first, the writer tried to force one particular storyline on the audience but from afar you could see it was not about that. The writer tried to make it seem like a love story between Lee Na-mi and the killer but it was far from that.
As I said earlier, the movie was forced and it needed more time to work things out. More time was needed for the suspense part to play out well. I feel like most things were revealed too early and that spilt the tea too early.
I can say the background of the killer was pretty good from the writer. I will give that one to the writer as he made sure to keep the suspense till the end of the movie.
Cinematography
I was drawn to the movie because of the quality of the video. I feel like with unlocked the cinematographer did an amazing job even though there are a few things we can say were not up to par.
Apart from that, I think the places used were pretty solid. As usual, Korean movies have a way of making everything beautiful and it was pretty ideal. Some scenes were not needed along with certain stuff but I think they made a pretty decent job.
Especially with the murder scenes. The murder scenes were not very scary, I don’t know why but I think they didn’t wanna scare a lot of people. But what’s the essence of this type of movie if the scenes that are supposed to be scary aren’t scary?
Acting and the actors
I could recognize Lee Na-mi from boys over flowers so instantly i realized she will make a great performance and she delivered.
The lead character Lee Na-mi did an awesome job with her role. I think the killer was not up to the task though as his skills didn’t look natural to me. He didn’t seem like the type to play a killer and not a killer(if you get what I mean). Other characters did quite well but for the most part, a lot of people didn’t look natural.
Lee Na-mi’s dad didn’t kill his role and her boss too didn’t seem natural. I think the director didn’t go hard on finding his actors because most of them suck.
Final thoughts
Unlocked is your normal psychopath movie where they try to portray a killer who acts in two roles. Even though for most parts of the movie the suspense part is missing, I still think it’s worth watching.
They took a different approach to the regular killer movies we have all watched. For most of those movies, we know how they will end. This one is not far from it but I think it’s worth it.
The story twist makes it interesting.
I will give this a 6.5 rating.
Thanks for reading.