"Gridlocked" is a watchable and mildly entertaining bromance/action film. Dominic Purcell's martial arts scenes are well executed and adequately choreographed. Stephen Lang does as well as can be expected with the lines that he's given. Cody Hackman plays a young actor with impulse control issues, but can't seem to decide whether to channel Robert Downey Jr. or Justin Bieber. In general, the performances fall a bit short of exemplary. One of the more memorable dramatic performance is delivered by an uncredited extra in a secretarial role who takes some documents and walks away without a word of dialogue. The bit of business has nothing to do with the plot, but she performs it convincingly, which cannot always be said for the rest of the cast.
One significant shortcoming is a problem with which many males in its presumptive target audience can relate, a shortage of females. There are two female newscasters, one policewoman who claims to be a lesbian but may be involved with a male character, an old lady, a psychologist who speaks to a character over the telephone and an unidentified woman shown in a still image. Consequently, there is no heterosexual love interest to counterbalance the bromance. While diversity for its own sake generally detracts from a film, this film seems a bit unreal for its lack. There are a few black criminals in an early scene and Danny Glover milks a supporting role. There's a Jewish guy in a stereotypical role. Otherwise, it seems very male and very WASP-ish.
For a low-budget actioner, it's entertaining enough. Some scenes seem derivative of "Die Hard 2," "Assault on Precinct 13," "Now You See Me" and other films. The acting isn't inspired, but isn't terrible. The plot is familiar and a bit contrived. Costumes, sets and such betray noticeable compromises to meet budgetary constraints. The entire film seems to have been shot without using a single tripod or other rigid mounting system, although the SteadiCam operator managed to keep the jiggle to a minimum. As a low-budget direct-to- video effort, it's a little better than average.
One significant shortcoming is a problem with which many males in its presumptive target audience can relate, a shortage of females. There are two female newscasters, one policewoman who claims to be a lesbian but may be involved with a male character, an old lady, a psychologist who speaks to a character over the telephone and an unidentified woman shown in a still image. Consequently, there is no heterosexual love interest to counterbalance the bromance. While diversity for its own sake generally detracts from a film, this film seems a bit unreal for its lack. There are a few black criminals in an early scene and Danny Glover milks a supporting role. There's a Jewish guy in a stereotypical role. Otherwise, it seems very male and very WASP-ish.
For a low-budget actioner, it's entertaining enough. Some scenes seem derivative of "Die Hard 2," "Assault on Precinct 13," "Now You See Me" and other films. The acting isn't inspired, but isn't terrible. The plot is familiar and a bit contrived. Costumes, sets and such betray noticeable compromises to meet budgetary constraints. The entire film seems to have been shot without using a single tripod or other rigid mounting system, although the SteadiCam operator managed to keep the jiggle to a minimum. As a low-budget direct-to- video effort, it's a little better than average.