The Locksmith Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

The Locksmith Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson December 18, 2023

Crime thrillers that involve locksmiths have surprisingly been relatively uncharted territory in cinema history. In 1956 RKO put out Man in the Vault featuring Anita Ekberg in a heist picture about a locksmith who gets entangled in a ransom plot. The British-made The Cracksman (1963), starring Charlie Drake and George Sanders, concerns a locksmith who goes to jail, and after his release, joins the undercover police to help catch jewel thieves. There's also Phoenix (1998) with Ray Liotta and Anthony LaPaglia. While there have been other films made in a variety of genres that include a locksmith, the character hasn't been well-tread. First-time director Nicolas Harvard's The Locksmith (2023) is a neo-noir that borrows conventions from the Western. It is set in Las Cruces, New Mexico, which Harvard uses as the site for Western archetypes and a classic shootout.

The opening, though, treads on noir turf. Locksmith Miller Graham (Ryan Phillipe) and his partner Kevin Reyes (George Akram) each need money so they plan a robbery at the local Cash House. While Miller tries to pry the safe, Keven gets cold feet and wants out of the job. But a motion sensor inside the safe alerts cops of the break-in, which causes the thieves to make a hasty exit. Outside, crooked cop Ian Zwick (Jeffrey Nordling) is supposed to act as an aid and accomplice, but he sets Miller up. He shoots Kevin without provocation and arrests Miller when the police arrive. Zwick double-crosses the Phillipe character so he can earn a promotion. The narrative flashes forward by ten years and Miller's release from prison. His former boss Frank (Ving Rhames) owns a small locksmith business and will act as a caretaker for him. He picks up Miller so the ex-con can meet with his parole officer Sharon (Livia Treviño). Miller wants to walk the straight and narrow in his new life. He shares 12-year-old daughter Lindsay (Madeleine Guilbot) with his ex-fiancée Beth Fisher (Kate Bosworth). Miller wants to get know the girl he couldn't see on the outside until now. Beth is a detective at the Dos Caminos police force where Liet. Zwick is preparing for his retirement. He asks Beth if she would like to join the vice division along with Detective Perez (Noel Gugliemi, also known as Noel G) and Detective Jones (Bourke Floyd). Beth agrees somewhat reluctantly, mindful of how dangerous work in the vice squad can be. Unbeknown to Beth, Zwick, Perez, and Jones pulled Miller over on the road. Zwick threatens Miller that if he ever says anything about what happened at the Cash House, Perez and Jones will make him pay.

Reentering the world.

Miller's post-prison life is further complicated when Kevin's sister April (Gabriela Quezada) visits and wants some payback from Miller for allegedly causing her brother's dead in the botched robbery. April wants Miller to break into the vault of real-estate magnet Garrett Field (Charlie Weber) during a night of poker and run off with $500,000 so she can start a new life. April says Garrett has been using his business as a front to recruit young ladies for an escort service. Garrett has been physically abusive and she has the bruises to prove it. April's fellow prostitute Tanya Saunders (Kaylee Bryant) has been working as an informant in Garrett's operation. Tanya tells Beth she has evidence proving Zwick and some of the other cops are involved, too.

Parts of The Locksmith remind me of Scott Frank's superior The Lookout (2007) and other crime dramas I've seen. At least Harvard's film is self-reflexive about the genre tropes it borrows from. For example, a Bogart and Bacall noir, as well as Welles's Touch of Evil, play on a TV in a motel late in the film. Jeffrey Nordling is unabashedly diabolical as the evil police lieutenant. Gabriela Quezada performs the femme fatale role rather well. Phillippe's grizzled and weathered face looks just like someone who has spent a decade in prison. Kate Bosworth makes a doting mother and competent cop. The script, though, leaves the Ving Rhames character the least developed of the principals and secondary characters. He's so good that the viewer wishes he would be given as much to do as he does in the Mission: Impossible films.

The Locksmith Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Screen Media's bare-bones release of The Locksmith is given the MPEG-4 AVC encode on this BD-25. The film appears in its original theatrical exhibition ratio of 2.39:1. The picture has been given a solid transfer. The high resolution helps accent facial details (see frame grab #s 10, 11, and 13). The image does a nice job of bringing out lime green and amber lights in darker scenes (see Screenshot #s 4, 5, 16, and 19). Day scenes look sunny and well-lit. Screen capture #8 of Garrett Field appears hazy and smoky because the character is in a sauna. Video compression could have been better. Screen has encoded the feature at an average video bitrate of 26627 kbps.

A dozen scene selections accompany the 91-minute feature.

The Locksmith Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Screen Media has supplied a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround track (3263 kbps, 24-bit) and a downsampled mix of LPCM 2.0 Stereo (2304 kbps, 24-bit). I listened to the 5.1 mix, which I take to be the originally recorded track. Fidelity, pitch, and range are excellent along the front channels. Dialogue is always clear and intelligible. I could only notice the surrounds when there's some ambience in a diner scene between Miller, Beth, and Lindsay. Also, I could hear a door shut on one of the surrounds after Lindsay gets into her mother's car. The satellite speakers receive the most activity when there are gunshots. Marlana Sheetz's score blends into the background with the other sound elements with subtlety.

Optional English SDH are available to switch on while viewing the feature.

The Locksmith Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are three previews for other Screen Media titles that play in succession before the menu loads. These bonus trailers cannot be accessed through the menu, however. Most unfortunately, there are no extras for The Locksmith.

The Locksmith Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Locksmith (2023) is definitely predictable in places but it's still an enjoyable little thriller and character drama. Nicolas Harvard has made a solid debut after spending two decades as an assistant director. Screen Media has delivered a very good transfer to go along with a fine 5.1 mix in lossless. RECOMMENDED.