TimeLock is a finicky flick that waffles an awful lot, much like its wishy-washy main character Mark (John C. Gilmour).  Fortunately, David Griffith’s micro budget thriller is easy to endear.

After some subtle personal realizations, hotel manager Mark is interrupted by a couple of crooked characters with criminal motives.  Throughout his nightshift, Mark is paired with heist ringleader Callum Coyne (Alton Milne) and positioned in uncomfortable situations, all while learning the hard way how to build a persevering backbone.

TimeLock, a wired and resourceful thriller, takes place mostly within the confines of Mark’s hotel.  As the audience scurries down corridors and hide in tight rooms with Mark and Callum, Griffith punctuates the paranoia of his film.  The filmmaker shows concise understanding that paranoia plays a key part in driving his story forward, and he uses this knowledge as leverage during unpredictable action beats, tense standoffs, and nerve-racking cinematography that fantastically exhibits the feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop.

David Griffith is quick to exchange working parts for generic “crowd pleasing” conventions of commercial action, making the film’s final stretch less inventive than TimeLock’s front half; which is in itself an impressive cross between Craig Zobel’s distressing workplace indie Compliance and unapologetic tragedies told by the Coen Brothers.

TimeLock hits VOD on Friday, May 20.  Pre-order the film on iTunes here!

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Addison Wylie: @AddisonWylie