Movies about viruses are either coming out at the perfect time or the worst time, but either way, there seems to be many as of late, and The Complex: Lockdown (2020) is the latest drip during this watershed moment.

Dr. Amy Tennant (Michelle Mylett) is a dedicated research scientist cultivating nano-technology that will save lives. One day, a terrorist attack rocks the city of London when it is discovered her nano-technology has been stolen and put inside of a terrorist. In order to mitigate the situation, her boss, Nathalie Kensington (Kate Dickie) calls in reinforcements in the form of Amy’s old colleague, Dr. Reese Wakefield (Al Weaver), whom she shares a tense relationship with. Using a locked-down laboratory to quarantine the suspected terrorist, the two doctors debate over whether to save her life or save the nano-technology, all while a group of terrorists attempt to penetrate the reinforced laboratory to finish the job.

At the very least, the film (based on the 2020 full-motion video game–an interactive game where the player can choose different outcomes) looks great–filled with a lot of technology and medical science contraptions. Some shots with eerie lighting contrasted against darkness reminded me of the cold, disconnected imagery and atmosphere of 2001: A Space Odyssey. In fact, there are quite a few images, lines of dialogue, and character-types that are quite familiar, which causes The Complex: Lockdown to seem rather cookie-cutter overall. The film has all the look and feel of a legitimately well-produced movie, but, it seems like the kind of movie that, if made in America, would be a slightly good but obvious Hollywood money-grab starring Natalie Portman and Ryan Reynolds.

If it were starring someone like Portman this movie would have been more impactful and entertaining–not that its lead actress was terrible, she’s just a little flat and monotone when the performance needed to match the character’s supposedly take-charge personality. The rest of the cast was just fine though; Al Weaver as carefree Dr. Reese Wakefield was a joy to watch, offering comedic relief to a film that would likely be boring otherwise, and also, Kate Dickie, who I know and love as the crazy aunt from Game of Thrones and the crazy mother from The VVitch (2014), was devilishly endearing as CEO Nathalie Kensington. Certain aspects felt shoe-horned in, unbelievable, and did not jive with the vibe of the rest of the film. I’m typically a sucker for the unexpected, but this felt like it was trying too hard.

The Complex: Lockdown is a Welsh production with casual racism buried in “othered” foreign characters, un-necessary romantic subplot, and cliché characters. While not a bad movie, it played out rather slow and didn’t have the thrills I was hoping for. Also, other than the medical technology the movie was hardly as sci-fi as I believe director Paul Raschid intended. It didn’t quite capture the futuristic setting I was expecting from a sci-fi flick, not even subtly as accomplished in something like Her (2014), Gattaca (1997), or Melancholia (2011). The Complex: Lockdown is a comforting kind of mediocrity, like a well-done made-for-TV movie that one might find on the SyFy channel. If an easy watch is what you are in need of, then The Complex: Lockdown would be a safe bet once it becomes available on streaming platforms on October 13th.

5 out of 10