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‘Unlocked’ Review: A Surveillance Thriller Best Left Offline

A woman experiences paranoia, loss and bodily danger after a serial killer hacks her phone.

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By Robert Daniels

In the sleepy cyberthriller “Unlocked,” Na-mi (Chun Woo-hee) forgets her phone on the bus after a night of revelry. It’s discovered by Jun-yeong (Yim Si-wan), who returns it to her — and who turns out to be a methodical serial killer. He’s bent on using the personal device to isolate Na-mi: first by kidnapping her doting father, then by destroying her promising marketing job, and finally by breaking the bond she shares with her best friend.

It’s not a particularly difficult task: He runs a phone repair shop, where he has hacked the device to observe texts and notifications, overhear calls and even access the camera. When Na-mi uses the phone’s selfie mode, it acts, in a sense, as a point-of-view shot. The director Kim Tae-joon and the cinematographer Yong-seong Kim smartly subvert the empathy such a composition provokes by leaning into the dread of unknowingly being watched.

The film, unfortunately, struggles to build on that aesthetic choice. Na-mi’s sole personality trait is her tendency to trust too much — a characterization that could work for a short-lived victim but that evaporates in a protagonist. Jun-yeong’s father (Kim Hee-won), a detective ridden with guilt over his seven-year estrangement from his son, is weakly drawn, too. The detective desperately wants to catch Jun-yeong before he kills again, but a last-second twist undermines the arc’s pathos.

“Unlocked” moves at a glacial pace. Jun-yeong is too apathetic, too quiet to keep a viewer enthralled for the entire film. In a cinematic landscape where the anxiety of surveillance has been sufficiently explored — with movies like “The Conversation,” “Enemy of the State” and “Kimi” — this simplistically dreary offering doesn’t crack a new code.

Unlocked Not rated. In Korean, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 57 minutes. Watch on Netflix.

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Unlocked’ on Netflix, a Korean Thriller About a Serial Smartphone Stalker

Where to stream:.

• Unlocked (2023)

Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Baby Reindeer’ On Netflix, Where A Struggling Comedian Deals With A Very Crafty Stalker

Stream it or skip it: ‘anthracite’ on netflix, about four people trying to solve a ritualistic murder in the french alps, stream it: ‘the hijacking of flight 601’ on netflix, a scripted retelling of one of the longest hijackings in history, ‘monkey man’ hits during its fight sequences, but gets muddled when it tries to explore religious extremism in india.

Paranoia is the main character in Unlocked (now on Netflix), a Korean thriller from first-time director Kim Tae-joon in which a serial killer gets his sick kicks by using his victims’ smartphones to wreak havoc on their lives before rendering them dead as heck. There was a time when guys like that used to just throw their victims in a pit in the basement or slash them in dark alleyways, but modern technology not only brings the world to our literal fingertips, but also apparently gives unsound minds all kinds of creative murder/torture options. So maybe the movie will function as a cautionary tale or a metaphor; let’s find out.  

UNLOCKED : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: We open with a day in the life of Na-mi (Chun Woo-hee) from the point of view of her phone. Music, selfies, food, social media, etc. It’s a long, crazy day that wraps with a heavy buzz and bedtime crash and when she wakes up, she panics. Her phone is missing. We know where it is, because the camera was with it on the floor of the bus when she got off and a highly suspicious pair of shoes shuffled up next to it. Those shoes belong to Jun-yeong (Im Si-wan), a quiet weirdo loner. He “answers” when Na-mi uses a friend’s phone to call, and by “answers” I mean he uses a fake voice app to speak so his voice won’t be recognized. CURIOUS. 

Before we see the rest of his possibly needlessly convoluted scheme to put a tracking device and spyware in her phone so he can monitor her every move and do god knows what else to her, we cut to a very gross dead body unearthed in the woods, which surely has nothing to do with Jun-yeong and is merely a coincidence in this plot, right? As police detective cop guy Ji-man (Kim Hee-won) investigates the death, we get to the god-knows-what-else part. Na-mi works in her father’s (Park Ho-san) cafe, and does marketing for a startup. The former is a good place for Jun-yeong to masquerade as a lover of plum juice and stalk her, the latter is something she loves that he can destroy using the power he has over every app in her phone. 

Meanwhile, we learn that Ji-man suspects his long-estranged son is the murderer. And it becomes pretty clear that Jun-yeong is a sociopath, since he fills yellow legal pads with teeny-tiny script and methodically wrecks Na-mi’s life by abducting and torturing her father, posing as a tech guy who can help fix her hacked phone and driving a big fat wedge between her and her bestie (Kim Ye-won). A mess of bodies turn up in the woods. Ji-man is increasingly tortured as he ignores the obvious conflict of interest and continues investigating the deaths. Jun-yeong turns out to be a classic monologuer. And Na-mi fights not just for her life, but for the ability to compulsively Instagram everything once again.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Unlocked sits somewhere between neo-tech thriller Kimi and phone/tech-based horror crud like Unfriended .

Performance Worth Watching: Although her character is an underwritten protagonist, Chun Woo-hee holds the film together with a performance that foregoes the usual cliches of horror-movie final girls or female stalker-victims. 

Memorable Dialogue: Jun-yeong should’ve punctuated this line with an evil MU-ha-ha-ha laugh: “We live in a world where we’re connected by the touch of a finger. Ironically, it also means we can be disconnected just as easily.”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: And to think, if someone hacked your phone, you’d be worried they’d order 10 grand worth of junk on your Amazon credit card or eff up your painstakingly curated Instagram feed. The nugget of an idea at the core of Unlocked is the paranoia we feel for having so much personal data inside a smallish plastic rectangle that’s so easy to leave behind at Chipotle, and how that rectangle could (can?) be so easily used to surveil your every move, embarrassing or otherwise. So what’s scarier, someone draining your Paypal account, or someone having video of that time you used your selfie-cam to locate and yank a pesky, shockingly coarse nose hair?

Sure, that’s an honest-to-blog 21st-century fear, but Unlocked surrounds that baseline idea with a bunch of bland characters participating in a heavily contrived plot. The situations aren’t particularly plausible, nor does it deliver the type of over-the-top nutso entertainment that might inspire fits of laughter. The movie exists in a neverwhere between fantasy and reality that hits a consistently drab tone best characterized by its villain, whose banality is supposed to create an air of menace, but ultimately inspires ennui. Kim Tae-joon uses some nifty camera maneuvers and creepy POV-via-phone shots to notable effect, but stylistic flourishes can’t compensate for narrative tedium (this doesn’t at all need to be nearly two hours) and an inability to generate any surprises or suspense.

Our Call: SKIP IT. Unlocked is almost a passable tech-isn’t-evil-unless-it’s-used-by-evil-people paranoia thriller, but almost just ain’t enough.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

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Home » Movies » Movie Reviews

Unlocked (2023) Review – fantastic premise but mediocre thriller

Directed by Kim Tae-joon, we review the 2023 South Korean Netflix film Unlocked does not contain spoilers.

The South-Korean mystery thriller,  Unlocked  is director Kim Tae-joon ‘s first full feature. Based on the novel of the same name by the Japanese author Akira Teshigawara , the film was initially meant to have a theatrical release before the production company decided on a straight-to- Netflix premiere. With a cast including the K-Pop star Yim Si-wan and the critically acclaimed Chun Woo-hee , expectations for this title were high, perhaps a bit too high. 

Unlocked (2023) Review and Plot Summary

Unlocked  starts with a highly accurate sequence portraying a day in the protagonist’s life from her smartphone’s perspective. Na Mi (played by Chun Woo-hee) is a start-up marketer who works part-time at her dad’s Seung Woo ( Park Ho-san ) cafe. After a drunken night out with her friends, she passes out on the bus and leaves her phone behind. Luckily, the person who found it is willing to give it back. They’re even kind enough to drop it off at a phone repair shop and pay for its screen to be fixed. Unbeknownst to Na Mi, her phone landed in the hands of Oh Jun Yeong ( Yim Si-wan ), who installed spyware on her device and used it to stalk her and insert himself into her life. 

We’re also introduced to detective Ji Man ( Kim Hee-won ) and his partner, Jung Ho ( Jeon Jin-oh ) . They’re investigating the brutal murder of a young woman whose body was just uncovered. At the crime scene, Ji Man finds clues indicating that his estranged son, Jun Yeong, could be the culprit. The two detectives decide to quietly investigate Jun Yeong and find out if he’s a murderer before telling the rest of their colleagues and risking Ji Man’s career in the force. 

The premise for Unlocked is intriguing and a terrifying reminder of how much we rely on our smartphones. These pocket-sized supercomputers contain all our conversations with friends and family, our memories, our work schedule, our hobbies, and even our banking details. And the idea of some deranged psycho getting their hands on these profoundly personal details and using them for nefarious reasons makes for a great horror plot.

Unfortunately, the execution is a bit messy. We don’t spend enough time with Na Mi to care about what happens to her. The killer’s actions make little sense. At one point, I thought I was watching the Korean version of You before devolving back into senseless chaos. Despite the relatively long runtime, too many narrative pieces are left in the air. 

Yim Si-wan is excellent as a villain. His portrayal of the deranged serial killer was chilling. And the chemistry between the two leads made the little cat-and-mouse game fun to watch. I also found Kim Hee-won’s performance as a father stuck between his duty and his need to protect his son compelling, and I wish that particular dynamic had been explored more. 

Is the 2023 South Korean film Unlocked good?

The premise for Unlocked is fantastic, but the result is a mediocre yet entertaining thriller. While there are a few muddled-up bits, the acting is top-notch, and the story is engaging enough to keep you watching for the entire runtime. 

What did you think of the 2023 South Korean movie Unlocked? Comment below.

Article by Lori Meek

Lori Meek has been a Ready Steady Cut contributing writer since September 2022 and has had over 400 published articles since. She studied Film and Television at Southampton Solent University, where she gained most of her knowledge and passion for the entertainment industry. Lori’s work is also featured on platforms such as TBreak Media and ShowFaves.

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Unlocked – Netflix Review (3/5)

Posted by Karina "ScreamQueen" Adelgaard | Feb 17, 2023 | 4 minutes

UNLOCKED on Netflix is a new psychological thriller from South Korea. The movie is an adaption of the Japanese movie Stolen Identity . It’s a serial killer story, where we see his method of stalking victims via their smartphones. Read our full Unlocked movie review here!

UNLOCKED is a new Netflix thriller from South Korea about a serial killer who stalks his victims via their smartphones. In fact, he even seems to choose his victims at random; If they lose their phone and he finds it, then they’re his next victim.

MORE SMARTPHONE HORROR Though it has a different take on it, the new series  Red Rose  on Netflix is a relevant comparison >

This movie is an adaptation of the Japanese movie Stolen Identity which was directed by the iconic J-Horror director Hideo Nakata ( The Ring , Sadako ). It’s obviously a very character-based story, but it also focuses a lot on how much our phones say about us. And how dependent, we are on them. For just about anything and everything.

Continue reading our Unlocked movie review below. Find it on Netflix from February 17, 2023.

It could happen to you

When Unlocked begins, we follow Na-Mi ( Chun Woo-Hee from The Wailing ) who works as a marketer at a start-up company. She doesn’t make much money and also works at her dad’s café. In just about every way, she leads a very ordinary life of someone who works hard every day.

And she’s also someone who depends on her smartphone for everything from reminders to work and communication.

After a fun night out with friends, Na-Mi loses her smartphone on the bus as she returns home. Fortunately, she gets it back quickly. She believes a young woman has found her phone, but we [the audience] know it’s actually a young man. This young man is shady in every way and is installing all kinds of spyware on her phone.

When she gets her phone back, her life is about to change in several strange and twisted turns.

K-pop star Siwan as the villain

The young man, who found Na-Mi’s phone and manages to insert himself into her life in a separate way soon thereafter, is Joon-Yeong (or Jun-Yeong). He’s portrayed by Im Si-Wan who is also known simply as Siwan.

He’s both an actor and a singer, who fans of the K-pop boyband ZE:A will recognize. Also, if you’ve watched the Netflix series  Strangers from Hell , you’ll recognize Siwan from that.

As Joon-Yeong, Siwan managed to deliver an extremely creepy performance at its core. Especially because he can be equally charming and laid back when the situation calls for it.

It’s almost too easy

As always, it can feel almost too easy to watch things go to hell for Na-Mi so fast. However, there are also people pointing out that Joon-Yeong seems creepy. Especially Na-Mi’s father, but – of course – she doesn’t listen to him. Her father, however, knows that Joon-Yeong is lying when he says he’s a regular at the coffee shop. He knows that much, so he’s on guard.

Na-Mi’s father is portrayed by Park Ho-san who fans of South Korean genre productions will no doubt recognize. Most recently, he also played the father in the Netflix horror movie The Call (2020) and he was in the action gore movie Project Wolf Hunting which we reviewed here >

The best friend of Na-Mi is also a little weary but doesn’t push too hard at first. This friend is portrayed by Kim Ye-Won who was in a movie with a somewhat similar premise. That movie was titled Door Lock (2019) .

While Jun-Young is working on his latest victim, we also follow Detective Ji-Man ( Kim Hee-Won ) as he investigates a murder case. A dead body was found in the forest on a remote mountain. There’s quite a twist when the Detective finds clues that point to his son Joon-Yeong as the possible perpetrator—something the Detective only shares with one close colleague.

Watch  Unlocked  on Netflix now!

The new South Korean psychological thriller was directed by Kim Tae-joon. This is his directorial debut, but it’s certainly a very strong one. With a runtime of just under two hours (1 hour and 57 minutes), it isn’t one of the longer movies from South Korea. But the runtime is very well utilized.

The film is based on the Japanese novel of the same name by Akira Teshigawara. As already mentioned, this was adapted into the 2018 Japanese film Stolen Identity . I can easily see how further adaptions or remakes could be made in virtually any country.

Having watched this, you’ll probably be conflicted between keeping your phone even closer and simply throwing it away. However, as many modern societies are built now, you can’t really opt to do the latter without making your life more difficult. It’s a double-edged sword, which (as mentioned initially) is exactly what the British Red Rose  series on Netflix also deals with.

Unlocked  is on Netflix from February 17, 2023.

Director: Tae-joon Kim Writers: Akira Shiga (novel), Kim Tae-Joon Stars: Chun Woo-hee, Yim Si-wan, Kim Hee-won, Jeong-hwan Park, Kim Ye-won, Jeon Jin-Oh

A woman’s life is turned upside-down when a dangerous man gets a hold of her lost cell phone and uses it to track her every move.

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About The Author

Karina "ScreamQueen" Adelgaard

I write reviews and recaps on Heaven of Horror. And yes, it does happen that I find myself screaming, when watching a good horror movie. I love psychological horror, survival horror and kick-ass women. Also, I have a huge soft spot for a good horror-comedy. Oh yeah, and I absolutely HATE when animals are harmed in movies, so I will immediately think less of any movie, where animals are harmed for entertainment (even if the animals are just really good actors). Fortunately, horror doesn't use this nearly as much as comedy. And people assume horror lovers are the messed up ones. Go figure!

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Unlocked Reviews

Unlocked doesn’t bring any new ideas to the dangers of digital surveillance. Instead, the movie loses focus on the character’s journey and the narrative, which fails to mesh them all together at the end.

Full Review | Sep 8, 2023

With "Unlocked" and "Emergency Declaration" — another 2022 film where Im Si-wan played the maniacal villain — Im has proven himself as a talented actor who can convincingly play any role.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 28, 2023

As Na-mi, Chun has to shoulder that suspense, and although her character outwits all the men in the movie, we aren't given a lot of detail about what makes her tick.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 24, 2023

A rather ominous film about the possible dangers if losing your smartphone.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Feb 18, 2023

This simplistically dreary offering doesn’t crack a new code.

Full Review | Feb 17, 2023

While this can serve as a cautionary tale about cyber security and the amount of access to your personal info a phone has, it’s most beneficial at establishing an immense creep factor from an ominous stranger.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 17, 2023

A crackling, nervy and above all sinister parable that will make any viewer think twice and thrice about letting one’s cell phone out of your sight.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 17, 2023

Unlocked isn’t necessarily doing anything new in the surveillance thriller or horror space, but it is effectively using technology to drive fear...Yim Si-wan and Chun Woo-hee deliver performances that sell every emotion but excel against each other...

Full Review | Original Score: 7.5/10 | Feb 16, 2023

Few things in life are more frustrating than losing your phone, but Kim Tae-joon’s insipid new thriller Unlocked comes painfully close.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Feb 14, 2023

Den of Geek

Unlocked review

Noomi Rapace stars in Unlocked, a new spy thriller from director Michael Apted. A new franchise in the offing? Ryan takes a look...

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Are filmmakers having trouble titling their spy thrillers? Think about the names of classic examples of the genre: The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. The Ipcress File. Three Days Of The Condor. The Day Of The Jackal.  Cool. Evocative. Enticing.

Now consider the following: Salt. Spectre. The Double. Unlocked. Don’t exactly get the pulse racing, do they?

Still, there’s plenty of tension and paranoia to go around in Unlocked , even if its name slips from the mind as soon as you’ve looked at the poster. Noomi Rapace stars as Alice Racine, a former CIA interrogator who’s reluctant to return to the fold after a she failed to foil a terrorist plot five years earlier. But a new threat – in the form of a biological weapon – forces Alice back into action, as she engages in a mad dash around London to track down the killer virus before it’s triggered.

What follows is a fairly rote thriller in the mode of Jason Bourne or TV’s Spooks (which got a forgettable big-screen spin-off, The Greater Good, in 2015). The good news is that veteran director Michael Apted has form in this kind of thing, having brought us the good-but-not-great 90s Bond outing The World Is Not Enough ; he brings a decent number of whizzes and bangs to most of Unlocked’ s action sequences, which are far more spiky and bloody than in your average Bond or Bourne flick.

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The bad news is that the plot’s taken straight from the big book of generic spy films. There’s a sage mentor figure – played by Michael Douglas in a spectacular white roll-neck sweater – an icy handler – Toni Collette, with a cut-glass accent and an even sharper Annie Lennox haircut – and a ruthless CIA boss – played by John Malkovich, who turns in a very Malkovich performance. You know, hard stares, abrupt bursts of shouting, that kind of thing.

At times, it’s difficult to tell whether we’re supposed to take Unlocked seriously or not. Screenwriter Peter O’Brien conjures up the phantom of international terrorism, and Apted, with his unwavering documentary-maker’s eye for the everyday, grounds the movie in a believably multicultural, contemporary London: apparently shot in the middle of October, Unlocked is all steel-grey skies, social housing blocks and run-down concrete car parks. Yet O’Brien throws in the occasional oddity to give us pause, which land on the screen like artefacts from another dimension: Orlando Bloom with an EastEnders accent as an ex-soldier and burglar (seriously, he’s in the middle of pilfering a television when he literally bumps into Alice); Malkovich mugging at Toni Collette over Skype; a terrorist riding a tiny bicycle like a refugee from BMX Bandits.

It’s all very odd, and we haven’t even got to Noomi Rapace’s leading performance. Softly spoken and surprisingly apologetic, Rapace entirely lacks the cool resolve of, say, Angelina Jolie’s turn in Salt – a movie Unlocked resembles, with all its assorted twists and changes of allegiance. (If we didn’t know better, we’d say Unlocked began life as a Salt sequel, in fact – the two movies even share the same producer, Lorenzo di Bonaventura.)

Solidly shot, quite tense in its best moments, Unlocked feels like one of those films you’d catch by accident on a late night cable channel, or might stumble on while flicking through the in-flight entertainment on a trip abroad. It’s by no means an awful film, but it’s several furlongs from a remarkable one. Ironically, it’s Unlocked ’s weirder moments that prevent it from being as forgettable as its title: Orlando Bloom muttering about his love of tagines; Toni Collette firing a machine gun the size of a family car; an incredibly strange moment involving a tattooed man, a lift and a pair of angry dogs.

If only the film had continued further down this route, and brought us a more outré take on the traditional spy thriller. More Michael Douglas in ill-advised sweaters; more of Bloom’s opinions on North African cuisine; more terrorists on tiny BMX bikes. Unlocked is one thing – Unhinged would have been far, far more interesting.

Unlocked is out in UK cinemas on the 5th May.

Ryan Lambie

Review: Unlocked (2023)

Image: ©Netflix

In Unlocked , Lee Na Mi is an ordinary young woman, going about her life as usual, when one night she loses her phone on the bus. Na Mi doesn’t notice the phone is missing until the next morning, by which time it has already been picked up by someone else.

After calling her own number, to see if someone has picked up the device, she is greeted by a friendly voice who tells her not to worry, the phone is safe and can be retrieved within the next hour. However, a short while later, Na Mi receives a follow up call from the mysterious person, informing her the phone has been accidentally damaged, and dropped off at a repair centre.

Na Mi arrives at the repair centre and after handing over a few details, the phone is repaired and returned to her. But what she doesn’t know is, the phone has been hacked and now someone has access to all her information.

Whatever she searches online, can be tracked, and wherever Na Mi goes, her mysterious stalker can follow along too. He can also cause a great deal of damage to her life, all from the comfort of his own home, and all from the touch of a few buttons.

Directed by Kim Tae-joon, Unlocked is a South Korean thriller starring Chun Woo-hee , Park Ho-San, and Yim Si-wan. The movie is new to Netflix from today, and is a decent little techno thriller which looks at stalking in the modern age.

The film sets up the idea that anyone can become a victim of digital surveillance, it is merely a case of momentarily dropping your guard. And then once someone gets inside your phone, they can get inside your life, and use your information however they see fit.

There is a little more to the film than just a bit of online stalking, as Unlocked also includes a police investigation, which plays in the background of the film. The two plot threads are of course connected, demonstrating just how deep and frightening this type of situation can be.

Director Kim Tae-joon has good grip on the material in this picture, and taps into the reality of the world we are currently living in. We have all become too reliant on technology, with most of us guilty of handing over a bit too much information online, and his film demonstrates the worrying side of all this.

He then backs this all up with a great cast, some strong shots, a fairly even tone, and a good soundtrack. Unlocked isn’t amazing, but it is pretty solid, and finds way to inject some thrills, a touch of paranoia, and plenty of drama into the story.

Unlocked may not rock everyone’s world, but it makes for a fine watch. There are some interesting ideas in here about hacking, spyware, and cyber-stalking, and it offers just enough story to make it all work.

You probably won’t come away thinking this is the best thriller you have ever seen, but you may have second thoughts about uploading so much information online. You may also consider super-gluing your phone to your hand, to deter anyone from trying to access it.

Thank you for taking the time to read this review on  It’s A Stampede! . For more reviews, check out the recommended reads below.

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Unlocked (2023) review: Dragged out but gets better as it progresses

In Unlocked , a murderous individual stumbles across an innocent woman’s smartphone and uses it to threaten her relationships and life. The Korean thriller film is now streaming on Netflix.

Lee na-mi (Woo-hee Chun) has no idea that leaving her phone on a bus after a night out is about to change her life for the worse.

Unfortunately, the person who stumbles upon it is Woo jun-yeong (Si-wan Yin), a serial killer who has a history of using people’s smartphones to eventually end their lives.

Meanwhile, his former victims are found by Woo Ji-man, Woo jun-yeong’s father, who realises that his son is the killer when he finds a plum tree near the body which was planted by him when he was younger.

Jun-yeong cleverly gains access to her phone and starts using it to eliminate the important people in her life. It’s all a game for this psychopath.

Jun-yeong had run away from home and Ji-man still blames himself for how his son turned out and wants to be the one to put a stop to him.

Performances

Si-wan Yin is stunning as a serial killer who lacks any emotions. He is genuinely terrifying at times and will give nightmares to many.

Woo jun-yeong is also solid, although not to the same extent as Si-wan Yin. Her character also lacks depth, restricting her.

The twists and turns that Unlocked throws at you are extremely unpredictable. It’s also not afraid to be as bizarre and terrifying as possible.

While it’s questionable where the narrative is headed at the start, it picks up pace eventually and displays a riveting finale.

The final twist changes everything completely and all that you, as viewers, and even the characters believed isn’t the reality.

The primary antagonist of the film is quite interesting. His psychopathic mind and actions keep you on the edge of your seat as nothing is too far for him.

The film drags at several points and struggles to hold your attention. Especially the first half moves at a snail’s pace.

Unlocked claims to explore how people in the modern world are disconnected while being more connected than ever through smartphones.

But this attempt is half-baked and only thrown in at a few points. It’s just a satisfactory thriller, not a well-written social commentary.

Unlocked is a decent thriller that isn’t hard to watch but doesn’t manage to stand out amongst the vast library of the genre on Netflix.

Director: Tae-joon Kim

Date Created: 2023-02-17 19:13

Also Read: Love to Hate You review: Mediocre love story aggravated by half-baked commentary

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Unlocked (2023) Parent Guide

This film will have you looking nervously at your phone for a long time afterwards..

Netflix: A woman's phone is hacked, putting her in grave danger as the hacker tracks her every move.

Release date February 17, 2023

Run Time: 117 minutes

Get Content Details

The guide to our grades, parent movie review by savannah sillito.

Na-mi (Woo-hee Chun) is always on her phone. Whether taking pictures with friends, using GPS, or checking Instagram, she’s never seen without it. Until one night, after a few drinks, she accidently leaves her phone on the bus. Luckily, a helpful stranger finds it and returns it, or so Na-mi thinks. Soon weird things start happening on her phone, like texts she never sent and posts she never made. While trying to uncover what’s happened to her digital life, Na-mi finds herself in more peril than she could have imagined.

Smartphones are so ubiquitous that it’s easy to forget how much of our personal information is stored on them. Unlocked is a story of what can happen when that information falls into the wrong hands. The story is not anti-smartphone: it’s a cautionary tale using a crime thriller as the vehicle.

Unlocked is not a perfect movie by any means. There were some unrealistic tropes that interrupted my viewing experience, such as characters making weird choices and police officers trying to do things alone without backup. However, that’s par the course for the genre, so these small annoyances are to be expected.

As expected in a crime thriller, the movie features a notable amount of violence and swearing. However, it is nowhere near what it could have been, staying well outside of an R rating. Mature older teens would probably be an appropriate audience for this film, which has the potential to lead to some important conversations around privacy and data. For adult fans of thrillers and crime, Unlocked is a well-made, superbly acted film that will keep you on the edge of your seat, if that’s a place you like to be.

About author

Savannah sillito, watch the trailer for unlocked (2023).

Unlocked (2023) Rating & Content Info

Why is Unlocked (2023) rated TV-MA? Unlocked (2023) is rated TV-MA by the MPAA for language, smoking, violence

Violence: A dead body is seen in some detail. Pictures of a killer’s victims are seen. Police officers threaten a character with a gun. A man is shot in the chest. A man beats another man; blood is seen. Sexual Content: None. Profanity: The script contains 14 mild and moderate expletives and two terms of deity. Alcohol / Drug Use: Adults are seen drinking and smoking in multiple scenes.

Page last updated January 22, 2024

Unlocked (2023) Parents' Guide

How much of Na-mi’s life is on her phone? How much personal, social, and financial information is accessible from your phone? What security precautions do you take? Is there anything else you think you should do?

LifeHack: How to Protect Your Privacy on Your Mobile Devices

CNET: 8 mobile apps that protect your phone’s privacy, because no, you’re not doing enough

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Graphic images, peril, language in Korean hacker thriller.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Young women can outsmart and display as much or mo

Friends forgive each other for mistakes. Na-mi is

Set in South Korea and shot in Korean. The main ch

A killer has murdered multiple people and their bo

In the subtitles: "s--t," "hell," "ass," "a--hole,

The premise of the film is how much of our lives,

Adults smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol. The mai

Parents need to know that the South Korean thriller Unlocked contains graphic violence, death, and peril. The film also has quite a bit of swearing in the English subtitles, including "s--t," "hell," "ass," "a--hole," "bastard," "bitch," "imbecile," and more. The film builds suspense in the plot of a young…

Positive Messages

Young women can outsmart and display as much or more courage as men of any age. Technology can lead to social alienation and loss of privacy. Relationships in real life are worth preserving in an age where much time is spent online.

Positive Role Models

Friends forgive each other for mistakes. Na-mi is brave in scheming to bring down a dangerous hacker. Jun-yeong is a psychopathic killer who seems to enjoy hurting his victims. Parents care for their children.

Diverse Representations

Set in South Korea and shot in Korean. The main character is female.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

A killer has murdered multiple people and their bodies are dug up in a mountain area. The bodies are shown in somewhat graphic detail. The killer takes photographs of his victims before they die. People are tied up, gagged, hit over the head, threatened with sharp objects, pushed to the ground, beaten until bloody, and shot at close range. The killer is physically and emotionally cruel, and he seems to enjoy watching his victims suffer. A woman is stalked online and in person after she loses her phone. A man suspects his own estranged son is a killer.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

In the subtitles: "s--t," "hell," "ass," "a--hole," "bastard," "bitch," "piss off," "imbecile," "idiot," "jerk," "weirdo," "jeez."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

The premise of the film is how much of our lives, including economic transactions, we live online, on smartphones and social media platforms like Instagram. Hyundai, BMW, Netflix, and local Korean brands.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Adults smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol. The main character loses her phone after falling asleep on a bus following a night of partying.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that the South Korean thriller Unlocked contains graphic violence, death, and peril. The film also has quite a bit of swearing in the English subtitles, including "s--t," "hell," "ass," "a--hole," "bastard," "bitch," "imbecile," and more. The film builds suspense in the plot of a young woman who is stalked by a murderous hacker, who in turn is being investigated by a detective who believes the perpetrator might be his estranged son. The detectives discover multiple bodies buried in the mountains, and some of these are shown in graphic detail. The killer takes photographs of his victims before they die, and he seems to enjoy torturing people. Characters are tied up, gagged, hit over the head, threatened with sharp objects, pushed to the ground, beaten until bloody, and shot at close range. Adults smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol. The main character loses her phone after falling asleep on a bus following a night of partying. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say

There aren't any parent reviews yet. Be the first to review this title.

What's the Story?

After a night of partying with friends, Na-mi (Chun Woo-hee) accidentally leaves her phone on a city bus at the start of UNLOCKED. A stranger, Jun-yeong (Yim Si-wan), finds the phone and hacks into it. He begins tracking her every move through the phone and works his way into her life, slowly alienating her from her friends and father. Meanwhile, Jun-yeong is being tracked by police, who believe he's responsible for a string of murders. One of the lead detectives on the case is Ji-man (Kim Hie-won), who believes Jun-yeong may be his long-lost son. Na-mi begins to work with the detectives to try to capture Jun-yeong and get her life back.

Is It Any Good?

This South Korean thriller starring a female lead crafts a disquieting tale with shades of Parasite and a cautionary social message about our collective smartphone addiction. Where that earlier, award-winning film saw class resentment devolve into violence, the social ills in Unlocked revolve around the isolation that stems from our overreliance on technology. Staring at a phone all day isn't just an annoying habit or a hindrance in human relationships in this film, it's also the means by which a psychopathic hacker invades his victims' lives.

The cinematography underscores that message through inventive shots, like the urban masses all staring at their phones, or a repeated overhead shot of people walking on a gridded walkway looking like automated pieces on a screen. Uncomfortable or intrusive camera angles, including ostensibly from inside a phone, also help build the film's suspense. As Na-mi, Chun has to shoulder that suspense, and although her character outwits all the men in the movie, we aren't given a lot of detail about what makes her tick. Other less-than-masterful touches in this slightly-too-long movie include an unnecessary use of slow motion in key moments of action and an at-times confusing alternating back and forth between Na-mi's story and the police uncovering the perpetrator's trail of crimes.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the reality of how much a stranger could find out about us by hacking into our online lives, as happens in Unlocked . What privacy precautions can you take?

The movie seems to have some themes about absentee parents and strained relationships between parents and grown children. Where do you see this? How does it tie in to the main characters' motivations?

What tools does this film use to build suspense? Did you find the film scary? Why, or why not?

Movie Details

• On DVD or streaming : February 17, 2023
• Cast : Woo-hee Chun , Yim Si-wan , Kim Hie-won
• Director : Tae-joon Kim
• Studio : Netflix
• Genre : Thriller
• Topics : STEM , Book Characters
• Run time : 117 minutes
• MPAA rating : NR
• Last updated : February 17, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Where to watch

2023 ‘스마트폰을 떨어뜨렸을 뿐인데’ Directed by Kim Tae-joon

Why are you doing this to me?

A woman's life is turned upside-down when a dangerous man gets a hold of her lost cell phone and uses it to track her every move.

Chun Woo-hee Yim Si-wan Kim Hee-won Park Ho-san Kim Ye-won Jeon Jin-oh Oh Hyun-kyung Ryu Sung-hyun Jeon Ik-ryoung Kim Joo-ryoung Lee Jeong-eun Kim Sun-hoa Kim Min-ju Lee Yong-nyeo Kil Hae-yeon Choi Chan-ho Baek Do-kyeom Park So-eul

Director Director

Kim Tae-joon

Producers Producers

Masaki Koide Lee Won-haeng

Writer Writer

Original writer original writer.

Akira Shiga

Editor Editor

Shin Min-kyung

Cinematography Cinematography

Kim Yong-seong

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Seo Jong-hae Ku Chang-geun Kwon Mi-kyung

Lighting Lighting

Bae Il-hyuck

Production Design Production Design

Lee Nae-kyung

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Kim Deok-du

Visual Effects Visual Effects

Lee Byeong-ju Son Seung-hyeon Heo Yeong-tak Kim Hyeok

Stunts Stunts

Jeon Jae-hyeong

Composers Composers

Dalpalan Heo Jun-hyuk

Sound Sound

Go Dong-hoon Park Yong-gi

Costume Design Costume Design

Shin Ji-young

Makeup Makeup

Park Min-hui Pi Dae-seong

Studio N Mizi Film CJ Entertainment

Releases by Date

17 feb 2023, releases by country.

• Digital 16 Netflix
• Digital 17+ Netflix Indonesia

Russian Federation

• Digital 16+ Netflix
• Digital NC16 Netflix
• Digital 15 Netflix
• Digital Netflix

117 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

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‘Unlocked’ (2023) Netflix Movie. Review

Unlocked is a South Korean film directed by Kim Tae-joon based on the novel by Akira Shiga . It stars Chun Woo-hee , Yim Si-wan and Kim Hee-won .

A South Korean movie about hackers, internet identities and many social networks and… murders.

An entertaining thriller that, although isn´t much technically, is more entertaining than fascinating.

In a drunken night a girl loses her mobile phone.  A boy takes advantage of this and takes over her identity. Meanwhile, a dead woman appears in the forest.

Movie Review

A classic thriller that uses common fears (with a real base) about the insecurity of having all one´s life tied up in a mobile phone. So far, this is basic and boring, but the unblocked identity also becomes a thriller about murders, which adds an extra touch of attraction.

The story is well planned and the relationship between the main two characters, introducing us into the plot with a clever script (just clever) which, without too much innovation, is able to become a classic thriller without risking too much and knowing that deep down, not much o fa risk could be taken in a film with more action: they have known how to focus on the main character and have a balanced screenplay that is coherent and professional.

Sometimes, trying to create a good product is the only option, at least with these parameters: Unblocked identity knows how to not run risks and be coherent in what it offers a viewer that expects this kind of a development.

Our Opinion

This is an entertaining thriller that is little more than that, it does not surprise one and is not memorable because of its artistic challenges. It settles for the tried and true in a story about murders and identity thefts in an unpretentious film.

Release Date

February 17, 2023

Where to Watch Unlocked

Jeon Jin-oh Lee Jae-woo

Unlocked (2023)

Movie title: Unlocked

Movie description: A woman’s life is turned upside-down when a dangerous man gets a hold of her lost cell phone and uses it to track her every move.

Date published: February 17, 2023

Country: South Korea

Duration: 117 mins

Director(s): Kim Tae-joon

Writer(s): Kim Tae-joon, Akira Shiga

Music: Dalpalan

Actor(s): Chun Woo-hee, Yim Si-wan, Kim Hee-won, Jeong-hwan Park, Kim Ye-won, Jeon Jin-Oh

Genre: Thrille

Companies: CJ Entertainment, Netflix

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Unlocked (2023)

1 HOUR 57 MINS

A woman’s life is turned upside-down after a dangerous man gets a hold of her lost cell phone and uses it to track her every move.

Movie Trailer

The Best Korean Thrillers on Netflix, Ranked

Cast & crew.

Chun Woo-hee Nami

Im Si-wan Jun-young

Kim Hee-won Jiman

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