Unlocked is a Korean thriller film based on a woman whose smartphone is found by a dangerous individual, who uses it to cause havoc in her life. The film is now streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
Lee na-mi is an ordinary woman who leaves her phone on the bus after a night out. A mysterious individual gets his hands on it, triggering a lethal chain of events.
The individual uses fake voice prompts to impersonate a woman. He feigns innocence and comes off as someone who genuinely wants to return the phone.
Meanwhile, Woo ji-man, a police officer finds a ravaged body. Nearby, he locates a plum tree that signifies his own son, Woo jun-yeong, is the killer.
The reason for this is revealed in a conversation with his wife. When a child, Jun-yeong wanted to plant a plum tree. Ji-man took him to the mountains for this.
Jun-yeong later ran away from his home. The corpse that was found is buried near that very same tree, leaving Ji-man concerned.
Jun-yeong is the very same person who found Na-mi’s phone as well. Unable to crack the password, he breaks the screen.
Then, he texts Na-mi that he accidentally broke it and she can get it back from a phone repair shop, where he acts as an employee himself without revealing his face and identity.
Na-mi writes her password in a form at the shop, giving him full access. He instals his own camera on her phone along with spyware.
This allows him to trace her every movement and constantly view whatever she is doing. He then plans out his next move.
He shows up at her father’s coffee shop as a regular person who likes plum juice. He repeatedly meets Na-mi and gets close to her.
His mission is simple; getting rid of the three most important people in her life. This list consists of her boss, father and best friend.
Na-mi’s father has always been wary of Jun-yeong and suggests she stay away from him. He baits him out of a house with a stray package and captures him.
Na-mi is about to get a raise for doing well at her job. This is sabotaged by Jun-yeong who uses access to her phone to upload an image on social media where Na-mi quits and insults her boss and colleagues.
Na-mi contacts Jun-yeong to find the hacker who uploaded the picture, unaware that he is the culprit. He uses this opportunity to get rid of her best friend.
By suggesting that someone directly uploaded the spyware to her phone and it wasn’t downloaded, he indirectly hints that her best friend is to blame. This causes a rift between Na-mi and her.
Ji-Man continues investigating his son’s murders. He and his partner are approached by Na-mi, who is told that the man she trusted is the culprit.
The three plan a trap for Jun-yeong but Ji-man does not tell her the gravity of the situation. She believes he just wants to upload the videos online.
Unlocked (2023) ending explained in detail:
Is Jun-yeong caught?
Na-mi baits Jun-yeong by asking her to come to his house for checking her laptop for spyware as well.
Ji-man and his partner hide and ambush him when he is about to enter Na-Mi’s building. But Ji-man doesn’t recognise him as his son.
Feigning ignorance, he questions whether they’re interrogating an ordinary civilian. Without concrete evidence to question him, the two Jun-yeong go,
He texts Na-mi that he won’t be able to come. The three are suspicious that he might know about their plan.
Ji-man and his partner leave but ask Na-Mi to contact them in case Jun-yeong returns to her house.
How does Jun-yeong capture Na-mi? What is his motive?
After they leave, Na-mi gets a text from Jun-yeong revealing that he knows she changed her phone and is still spying on her.
She tries to call the police officers but he just deletes the number as he still has access to her phone.
He plays an audio of her father where he warned her to stay cautious with him. He then reveals himself and has already infiltrated her home. He claims he will let her go if any of the three people he removed from her life contacts her.
He forces Na-mi to text the police and assure them everything is fine. Following this, he shows her footage holding a knife to his throat.
Jun-yeong then goes to the washroom. When Na-mi follows him, she finds out that his father has actually been tied up in the bathtub and Jun-yeong holding a knife to his throat.
Shockingly, Ji-man receives a call that they ran a DNA test on one of the previous victims, and it turned out to be Jun-yeong.
What is Jun-yeong’s true identity? Is he dead or alive?
The Jun-yeong imposter threatens to kill Na-mi’s father by filling ab the bathtub and drowning him. When she begs to do anything to save him, he asks her to kill him instead.
He throws her into the bathtub and the rising water causes her father to start losing breath.
The imposter thinks his plan is going smoothly until he finds a note where the police asked her only to call them, not text.
Alerted by this, he notices Ji-man’s partner entering. When he follows him with the intent to kill, Ji-Man pulls a gun on him.
His partner pulls out Na-mi from the bathtub and attempts to save her father through chest compressions as she dejectedly lies on the ground.
Ji-man asks the imposter what happened to Jun-yeong. In his notes, Jun-yeong is revealed to be one of his victims.
He found his phone just like the others and learnt everything about his life. He later decided to impersonate him and turn him into a murderer.
He offers to turn himself in, but before Ji-man can shoot him, Na-mi gets up, takes his partner’s gun and shoots the imposter in his chest.
Na-mi’s father ends up being saved, much to her relief, while the imposter still shows signs of life. She gets a message from her best friend, meaning the imposter’s plan to prove how disconnected humanity is had also failed.
The media covers this incident, and the imposter is revealed to only be unconscious, not dead. He was also never registered at birth, meaning he has no identity of his own.
Na-mi’s father’s coffee shop gets a lot of attention because of this as well. However, another unidentified individual shoots her video from afar. As Na-mi senses this, the film ends, hinting at another stalker.
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