Review of Locke (2014) by Jesse O — 15 Aug 2014

If you wanna learn anything about the power of acting and strong storytelling then you will watch this movie and you will study it thoroughly. As much as I loved Buried, and 127 Hours, both movies, in a way, cheated.

Buried had great suspense and intrigue, whereas 127 Hours used flashbacks to get away from its confined spaces to emotionally draw you in. This movie has none of that. All of this movie has is a car, Tom Hardy, and the people he calls throughout his drive towards the hospital, and dialogue.

No smoke and mirrors, there's no mystery, there is for like the first 7 minutes, as to what Ivan Locke did that has him putting off the biggest concrete pour in Europe, putting his job at risk. Long story short, he impregnated a woman out wedlock.

The drive towards the hospital is that he can be closer to her in her hour of need. He doesn't love this woman, hell probably doesn't even like her, but his sense of responsibility won't let him do anything but that.

Even if it means that his entire life will unravel and nothing will ever be the same again. Basically, this man is simply too honest for his own good. It sort of begs the question, at least in this case, if honesty really was the best policy for him.

There's this speech that Locke gives Donal that is basically a metaphor for everything that he's going through. It basically has to do with the concrete mixing and how if you don't use the right mix, there are cracks that will start to show and the cracks will get bigger and bigger until the whole thing collapses.

Basically everything that happened in this movie was, the cracks in Locke's life kept getting wider and wider until his entire life collapsed. You get to see what made Locke into the man that he is today.

His experiences with his father, and his absence from Ivan's life, has affected Ivan to the point where he completely alters the way he will lead his life and how he will bring respect to the Locke name.

Ivan reveals his issues with his fathers through little monologues where he acts as if his father is sitting in the backseat. The vitriol and anger with which he speaks of his father is certainly something to behold, but it makes you realize why he is as responsible as he is.

Internally, I believe that if he isn't a perfectionist then he will be exactly like his father and that's the last thing he wants. Of course, all of this excellent storytelling would be for naught if you didn't have an actor that truly delivered the goods, or didn't take command of the screen.

Thankfully, the film has Tom Hardy at the helm, literally, and he absolutely delivers one of his best, if not his best, performance. I loved him Bronson because he absolutely became this insane character, he was incredibly convincing in that role, almost like he believed every words that was coming out of his mouth.

That's not something you see in a lot of actors, but Hardy had that in Bronson. You know an actor is immensely talented when he can play diametrically opposed characters such as Ivan Locke and Bronson and do both so convincingly that it's almost like you're watching a completely different person.

The way he transforms his voice, and even his appearance, is nothing short impressive. My favorite scene of his in this movie would definitely have to be when he's talking to his sons as he's crying, as he's sure that nothing will ever be the same again and how his actions will affect them as a family.

The guy is a crying but you couldn't tell from his voice, which was calm, cool, and even comforting at times. He doesn't overact during this scene at all and he just completely crushes it. This is a testament to Hardy's talent, but it's also a testament to the scripting of the film, which gave Hardy the spotlight to do some of his best work.

In a perfect world, Hardy would, at the very least, be nominated for an Oscar. Some people may watch this movie and ask themselves what I'm talking about, but I really think that Hardy had the entire film riding on him, literally and figuratively, and he just hit a grand slam.

This type of acting, where you're in a single enclosed setting for the entirety, is so difficult to pull off. I don't wanna say it takes more talent, but it's immensely difficult. Particularly in the ADD world that we live in, if there's not multiple locations, multiple characters, or a lot of action, people would just lose interesting in watching.

But this film, like I said, through its writing and Hardy's excellent performance, finds a way to keep you absolutely glued to your seat. You are along for the ride right from the start. Sorry for the pun.

Cannot complain here one bit, great stuff all around and I definitely would recommend this film. I can see this being in my Top 10 of 2014.