Locke

...Locke provides irrefutable proof that he is. Tom Hardy is absolutely captivating in this role, and he has to be. It's all about his character Ivan Locke driving in a car. That's the setting. All forms of dialogue are from Locke and from calls he gets ingoing and outgoing through the car. The weird thing is, you don't even notice it after a while. Everything flows so smoothly and Tom Hardy's performance completely captures everything you'd expect from this character as he's experiencing these dilemmas - you believe every word out of his mouth and every subtle nuance in his expressions. Tom Hardy owns this movie and Locke really is the perfect vehicle (literally) for showing off his barebones acting chops.

The story itself is that Ivan Locke is a construction worker who just got off his shift and is now driving back, but then gets some calls that give us insight into what he has going on in his personal life and his work life and how Locke responds to this information as it gets progressively more stressful. It's incredible that a movie at only 82 minutes can go through such a roller-coaster of emotions, and as short as it is the movie still flies by because you're so drawn to the character. One of the voices is Locke's coworker voiced by Andrew Scott (Moriarty from Sherlock) and even as a voice-over his performance is totally convincing and his back-and-forth with Hardy is electric and at times humorous. His wife and other parties bring drama into the equation and as things start falling apart for Locke it dips into psychological thriller territory.

Steven Knight deserves much credit as well for having written and directed the film. It's so smooth and sleek, from the highway shots to the few overhead shots of the city at night. It's beautiful and adds the ideal atmosphere for this one-man show to maneuver in. It's a wonderfully written movie, wonderfully directed, perfectly acted (seriously, this is the performance of Hardy's career), with a spot- on supporting cast of voices. Locke is a mesmerizing movie from beginning to end. If you're a Tom Hardy fan or a fan of good cinema in general, you're doing yourself a disservice by not watching Locke.

This film tells the journey of a construction manager who drives in his car from Birmingham to London, because of a responsible but destructive decision he has made. Over the course of the drive, he talks on the phone to various parties, hoping to make things right.

"Locke" is an interesting film because it has only one actor appearing on the screen. The number of calls Ivan gets is quite astonishing, at times even make my eyes roll. Yet, the calls change in emotion as time goes on, especially the wife's call, which is realistic and engaging. The last phone call by the son is also very emotional. I enjoyed watching this interesting and challenging film, both to make and to watch.

Tom Hardy plays Ivan Locke, a successful construction manager who makes a major decision on his journey home which will impact on every aspect of his life.

This a low budget drama from writer and director Steven Knight with Hardy the sole screen presence. As he takes to the road he is seemingly a man in control of his destiny, determined to do the right thing only for everything to slowly unravel. Through conversations on the phone he tries to negotiate an emerging crisis at work with his boss and an evolving domestic situation with a concerned wife and sons desperate to have their dad home to watch the football.

With a premise of just one actor in a confined location it is testament to Hardy's acting nous that he can pull off such a taught, powerful performance solely based on reactions to the increasingly dramatic phone calls. Locke is unrelenting in his belief of doing the right thing and we see why when he has imagined conversations with his father, an apparently neglectful and emotionally absent figure in his life. These scenes in particular are beautifully shot with the use of Locke looking into the car mirrors for the man who isn't there.

It wastes very little of its short running time and overall is a captivating and rewarding film with a terrific central performance.

Apart from about 20 seconds at the start, the entire film is shot in the confined space of a BMW drivers seat. There is only one physical actor & about 4 different camera shots. Tom Hardy plays Ivan Locke, he lives a successful life in Construction & is a dedicated family man. He is calm and collected and gives the impression that he is a man all about control. In the time it takes him to drive from Birmingham to London, his whole life changes, and you get to see how and why through various telephone calls on Bluetooth loudspeaker.

Tom Hardy gives a very convincing performance and shows everybody that he is not a one trick pony and he can adapt well to different roles and scenarios. With Tom Hardy being the only star of this movie he really needed to bring a powerful performance that the audience can connect to, and he did this successfully in my opinion. The director stated that he wanted to make something completely different and fresh for mainstream cinema, there are other films out similar to this but the ones I have seen don't match up to Locke. This does feel unique and I can appreciate how making a film of this style must be challenging to make it entertaining and keep its viewers hooked. The run time is about right and at just over 80 minutes it's relatively short but I think this helps.

This movie is slow paced, its one man talking on the phone for 80 minutes, so if this doesn't sound like something for you then avoid! I personally found it tense and gripping. The film didn't head in the direction I thought it would but this isn't a bad thing. It has its own unique feel and this is always something I welcome in a world of cinema that is so saturated with clichés and over told stories!

When the credits rolled it did leave me thinking about the movie and had me thinking it over in my head. It actually made me feel quite emotional, this is all down to Tom Hardy and his performance. It is hard to say anything else about this movie without giving key plot points away!

7/10

Both in terms of technique and storytelling approach Locke proves to be a fascinating piece of filmmaking, as the audience accompanies a successful construction manager on a thrilling car journey, where he faces a massive, life-changing predicament, one that effects both his professional and private life. Tom Hardy is simply magnificent in the title role, portraying a highly complex character for whom one develops very mixed emotions, as he is respected and despised both at the same time. The film demonstrates great ingenuity and creativity with its concept, proving gripping and incredibly suspenseful throughout, the credit for the which can be equally shared by Hardy's marvelous acting skills and a captivating story that is flawlessly executed. The fact that a fairly simple film with a single actor, a single confined location and a long string of problems can produce such a spellbinding experience is nothing short of extraordinary, which certainly makes Locke worthy of the highest praise.