Unlocked

While Unlocked is a tad better than the wannabe thrillers Netflix keeps dumping onto us, I felt some of its thriller potential fizzled out in its last act. There are two stories at play: one is that of a psychopath stalker out to destroy a young woman's life (for the heck of it) by having access to her smartphone; the other is of a cop investigating a serial killer, who he suspects, might be his runaway son. At 1h 57m, the film's storytelling hooks do their job of engaging us, accompanied by solid performances from Woo-hee Chun and Si-wan Yim.

The idea of an identity-stealing stalker-killer picking his victims by slyly accessing their smartphones is terrifying. Though the plot moves along in a rather predictable way, with the perpetrator systematically destroying the protagonist's life exactly how we anticipate, the film never falls short on fundamental thrills. Will the protagonist gain the upper hand? Will the criminal be caught? Do both stories eventually converge? These questions get answered in an okayish (and gory) finale, but the developments until then are pretty compelling.