It didn't take long for filmmakers to find ways to get back to work amid the continuing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and global lockdowns. While some of the concepts they've come up with seem ill-conceived at best, others cleverly use the current health crisis as a means for telling smaller and more inventive stories. That's thankfully the case with Locked Down, a film that hales from the unexpected team of Peaky Blinders creator/writer Steven Knight and Edge of Tomorrow director Doug Liman. Together, the pair use the pandemic as a springboard to create a witty romantic comedy that morphs into a quasi-heist movie to generally satisfying results.

Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor star in Locked Down as Linda and Paxton, a London-based couple who were on the verge of calling it quits when the lockdowns began, forcing them to quarantine together. Linda was recently promoted to CEO for the U.K. segment of her company, but now spends her days drinking wine, smoking and loathing herself in between firing employees at the behest of her bosses. Meanwhile, Paxton was furloughed from his job and is struggling to find new employment as a driver, but his options are limited by the fact he was in prison 10 years ago.

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Anne Hathaway in Locked Down

The first half of Locked Down is like a stage play in the way it uses dialogue and limited space to examine Linda and Paxton's relationship and who they are as people. Paxton, who's symbolically leaving his days as a rebel behind him by selling his treasured motorbike, loves to wax poetic -- even reciting literal poetry to his neighbors at times -- about his gloomy situation, which gives Ejiofor a chance to really flex both his comedy and drama acting muscles. Hathaway likewise flourishes in her role as the equally messy Linda, who's despairing over the hollowness of her career and the behavior of her oblivious, privileged fellow CEOs.

Locked Down cracks easy joke about Zoom calls and people wearing their pajamas all day during lockdown, but it's more interested in exploring how the pandemic forces Linda and Paxton to admit they're at a crossroads and must figure out where to go from here, be it together or separately. It's also well served by Liman's guerrilla-style filmmaking, which keeps the often-static proceedings feeling visually dynamic. By blending footage of people talking on their laptops with more polished camerawork, Locked Down captures the drudgery of its characters' lives without merely feeling like a home movie some A-listers made during quarantine.

Liman's directorial choices become all the more important in Locked Down's second half, at which point the movie evolves into an unconventional caper. Paxton, as fate would have it, manages to secure a four-day job transporting goods from various department stores impacted by the pandemic, including the Harrods department store where Linda's company is keeping a jewel worth millions. Meanwhile, Linda is tasked with overseeing the transportation of said goods for her business shortly after learning about her boss' dealings with a powerful individual so nefarious he won't even say their name out loud.

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Chiwetel Ejiofor and Anne Hathaway in Locked Down

Admittedly, this is where Locked Down temporarily devolves into a parade of name actors (Ben Stiller, Ben Kingsley, Mindy Kaling and Stephen Merchant among them) showing up to make mildly amusing cameos before vanishing from the movie. Fortunately, Linda and Paxton's hastily conceived plan to steal the jewel is far more entertaining anyway and plays to Liman's knack for helming nimble action-comedies (see: Mr. and Mrs. Smith, American Made). And even amidst the Ocean's Eleven-style hijinks -- like Paxton having to pretend his name is Edgar Allan Poe -- the film remains a rom-com at its core.

No doubt, Locked Down could've been a little less rough around the edges or tighter in its construction had it not been made while the current pandemic is still going strong. Still, it's arguably a case where striking while the iron is red-hot pays off, with Locked Down arriving at a time when many people (like Linda and Paxton) are re-examining not only their priorities but their morals and lives in general. Rather than offering an escape from that unpleasant reality, the film provides a relatable and otherwise welcome cathartic experience that actually has something thoughtful to say about the ways these lockdowns have impacted the world.

Directed by Doug Liman and written by Steven Knight, Locked Down stars Anne Hathaway, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Ben Kingsley, Dulé Hill, Jazmyn Simon, Mindy Kaling, Ben Stiller, Stephen Merchant, Lucy Boynton and Mark Gatiss. It begins streaming on HBO Max Thursday, Jan. 14.

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