Review of Locke (2014) by Nathan M — 28 Oct 2014

An unusual one-man show, Locke is a thoughtful and intriguing example of formidable story-telling, brilliant acting and minimalistic settings. Intense, but not really thrilling, this Tom Hardy-vehicle impresses with the fact that something that could have been a theater play is turned into a compelling movie, set in a single car.

Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy) is a successful and well-respected contractor who faces his biggest personal challenge just the night before the biggest day of his professional career. Behind the driver's wheel, with a hands-free and nothing but his clear thinking, Ivan needs to make the biggest decisions in his life. With no time to get emotional or to act irrationally he could either get out of the situation or submit to desperation.

One-man show thrillers are not really uncommon. However, Locke relies less on the conventional thrills and more on the acting and exquisite story-telling. Even though the movie is far from being thrilling, it impresses with its down-to-earth approach towards Ivan's problems. Bolstered by the extremely powerful performance of Tom Hardy, Steven Knight's delivery is painfully human and realistic. Not even the overly dark tonality (comparable to the less successful Redemption by the same director) could change the feeling of seeing an unusual piece of art.

As a whole, the only thing that deprives Locke from becoming an absolute cult delivery is the fact that Steven Knight never succeeds to increase the suspense to level that would completely mesmerize the audience. Tom Hardy and the nicely crafted screenplay are excellent enough to make Lock a worth-seeing delivery, but they are not sufficient to turn it into a classic. As a final note, Tom Hardy once again proves that he is one of the new generation of actors who should be monitored very closely.