This was a very unique film.
Locke is about a man driving. You take out the dialogue and that’s all it is. Take a look at my favourite movies page and you’ll know that I enjoy the dumber things in life, balls-out action etc. However, I am open to a range of cinema, and I know quality filmmaking when I see it, and that’s what I saw.
Lacking any sort of action, it is purely performance driven and the performance that drove it was that of Tom Hardy. Now, as actors go I quite like Tom Hardy and I usually find him very entertaining in anything he’s in, but this was the first time I’ve seen him as a serious actor, in my memory anyway. As the title character, Ivan Locke, he, quite frankly, blew me away. It was one of the most powerful performances I’ve seen in recent memory. In some ways, I feel like I could relate it to that of Al Pacino’s in Dog Day Afternoon, in that it shows a man’s mental state slowly deteriorating through the course of the film. That being said, it was completely different at the same time. At the start of the film, it seemed to be completely mundane. However, I then got to know the characters he talks to over the phone, which is what the film is made up of. Then I am entangled in a web of stories, suspense building at all points.
As the story never strayed from the car at any point, you feel quite trapped with the character, forcing you to listen. There are no kind of distractions from the dialogue and the story, which makes the viewer feel uncomfortable. In the context of the film, however, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It invites you into the situation as a fly on the wall and you witness something deeply concerning as a man’s life falls apart in an hour and a half. Like a serious Marion & Geoff.
Overall, Locke was a very memorable experience, and one that I wish there were more of. It certainly isn’t for everybody, due to the claustrophobic nature of it. However, it is a powerful film for those who do want to watch it.
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84/100
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Lots of hugs, kisses and lacerations
Milo
Stuff and That. 