Movie Review: Locke
Some films aren’t meant to be liked by everybody. They exist for their own sake, to see if they can be done and done well. Locke is one of those films. These are movies that are darlings of the critics that most folks just won’t clamor to see or care much about. Again, Locke falls into this category, but it isn’t cute about it.
Locke was written and directed by Steven Knight. He also wrote Eastern Promises (2007) and Dirty Pretty Things (2002). Both are serious dramatic films that were excellent but hardly upbeat, which appears to be Knight’s wheelhouse. This film tells the story of Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy) on his worst day. The film opens with Ivan leaving the construction site that he runs and getting into his car. The entire film is shot with only one actor on screen – Hardy, the rest of the cast are strictly voice performances. The movie takes place over the course of Ivan’s ride in his car.
Ivan makes several decisions over the course of the film, beginning at the onset as he chooses to turn right and not left. He drives away from his life and all the happiness he has worked so hard to attain. He drives away from the family he loves. Consequently, he must call his wife Katrina (Ruth Wilson) and explain the mistakes he has made and deal with the fallout. He talks to both his sons, Eddie (Tom Holland) and Sean (Bill Milner) and must try to keep them out of the fray as much as he can. He calls his boss Gareth (Ben Daniels) to explain why he won’t be in the next day. A day on which he was to complete the biggest project he had ever worked on.
Ivan, you see, has a moral choice to make that he did not expect to have to make on this particular night. He feels he has made the right choice no matter how horrible a price he has to pay for it. But is it the right choice?
The movie looks great; dreary but great. I know that sounds paradoxical. But the swirling lights and traffic really set the mood for the film’s sense of doom. The performance of the actors in any movie is paramount to me. When there is only one actor on screen then the amount of weight that performance must bear is, naturally, increased proportionally in my mind. Tom Hardy’s Ivan is perfect.
Tom Hardy in “Locke.” Photo by A24 Films – © A24 Films.
Ivan Locke is a controlled individual. He is a planner and a builder. He literally builds foundations for a living. He is a serious task-oriented man that deals far better with organization than emotion. He is distant yet kind. He always tries to do the right thing and cannot conceive of not trying to find a fix for any and every problem. Sadly not all problems can be solved. Ultimately Ivan decides to stay who he is even if that means his life is turned upside down. He won’t give in to the fractured elements that we see of his psyche during the course of the film. Ivan may never be a fully happy man again and he knows it. Ivan’s tragic flaw is that he is defined by his quest to not repeat the mistakes of his forbears.
Locke is bound to be compared to other recent solo performance films like Buried (2010) and 127 Hours (2009). I can say that Locke is at least as good as any other such film that I have seen.
Steven Gahm
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