Review of Locke (2014) by Frank C — 31 May 2015

You might wonder how a full length feature film can carry itself when it's set entirely in a car? The answer is simple: Tom Hardy. Hardy's in charge of the screen delivering a startling natural performance as construction worker and family man Ivan Locke, . In this intelligent piece of drama story telling, Locke is on his way to the birth of his baby - a result of a one night stand. It is in the claustrophobic confinement of his car that his life slowly begins to fall apart as he drives further and further away from his career and his family. Locke remains surprisingly cool and collected as the foundations of his reputation begin to crack, it is Locke's determination to do the right thing that disrupts the equilibrium of his life and those whom he is close to. When Locke is not on the phone, his frustration begins to expose itself; angry and bitter bursts through his teeth at the deadbeat father whom he talks to beyond the grave, in a sad irony Locke, in a bid to save his newborn from the same struggles he had lived as a boy, inadvertently becomes his father; as he tears his own family apart. Locke's desperation to complete his building delivers interesting metaphors; frequent mentioning of the concrete in which to base the building and the self reassurance of traffic; perhaps the building is a symbol of his life, in which the concrete (work) must flow smoothly and set in order to keep the building from falling, or maybe the building,, is a metaphor for Locke's newborn - a creation for which one man must oversee production; from foundation to skyscraper; one error with the concrete and the cracks in the foundation will grow and grow.

A fantastic, clever screenplay rich in metaphors and symbolism, Locke is a sombre film allowing us a glimpse into the life of a man stuck at a cross roads, and yet speeding frantically in one direction.