Locke

It’s underrated imo. Very stressful tho

This movie is formed by the excellent Tom Hardy performance. It's that good. I would put it up there with Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mocking Bird, and Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs. Okay, now I think you understand how good I think Hardy does. The movie seems boring from a simple summary. "It's about a guy taking phone calls in his car for almost 90 minutes". That sounds boring, but it's not. It's actually the most suspenseful movie of the year. (2014, it came out in the US in 2014). Sounds impossible, but writer/director Steven Knight does amazing with a tiny budget. You also get to know, not only Hardy's character, but the people he's talking to on the phone as well. They truly seem like real people. The situation they create is also very creative and interesting. I won't say what it is, but I don't think it's a spoiler. I'll just say it makes you wonder what you'd do in the given situation. It's the best British film I've seen since Trainspotting, and definitely deserves one, if not more, viewings.

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

The whole film is a man in his car making phone calls. Actually, that's not entirely true, there is an exciting bit where he opens a big project binder to go through the list of road closings necessary to allow for C6 (not C5) concrete to be delivered for the biggest concrete pour in Europe (outside of the Military and Nuclear industries). Most of the time he doesn't appear to be wearing his seat-belt, and sometimes (while driving at 90) he is reading from the binder while driving. It is a miracle no-one is killed. The drama reaches a climax when we are unsure if the stop/go road closure on vale road will actually get a council permit in time for the duty officer at the police station to be informed, and in the meantime it is clear that the shuttering for one of the pour pumps is not to standard and must be fixed by an emergency crew of polish builders. In the meantime he is also dealing with what seems to be a more minor project, the birth of his bastard child outside of his marriage, although he doesn't have a folder for that one. In the end we don't really know if the concrete pour works out, or anything else. We are left hanging for the outcome of a plot concerning characters we don't really care about at all. Perhaps all will be settled in a sequel - "Locke 2 - The drive home"?

"Gripping", "Compelling", "Genuinely Moving", "Suspenseful". Just some of the words of acclaim this film has attached to it. It has garnered an array of affirmation, and supposedly gets the heart pumping. Did it get my heart pumping? Was I in suspense? Was I moved? Did I find it compelling? The answer to all of those is....NO!!! A resounding NO. I knew what it was about, and i had no qualms about its simplicity, but how anyone found this riveting baffles me. Tom Hardy is an exceptional actor, i will never question that and even in this dull, pointless story he does a solid job, but his ability to have a Russian, Welsh and English accent all at once doesn't save this film. The in car phone ringing 300 times, i mean why does he have to let it ring? He's going to bloody answer it, why wait 3 bloody rings to press a button in your car!!!!!!. Did he need to compose himself before EVERY phone call? It was infuriating. Then there's the conversations between him and his son about a football game; why would you be so mysterious about a football game? Is it because the budget of this film only covered gas and a phone bill? That they couldn't say the teams name? Yes the film is unique, and there probably (and hopefully) wont be another like it. But that doesn't stop it from being completely pointless. The story so uninteresting, i felt no sympathy, that was replaced by apathy. I did not care about any of the voices or Hardy's character. Basically everything was his own fault. There was no real justification. Was i supposed to empathize with his situation, when he's having his little meltdown and trying to justify why he has chose this. I couldn't have cared less. Fellow motorists matching his mood didn't make me appreciate it either. It was slow, annoying, very annoying, and most of all pointless.

Director Stephen Knight has crafted something quite special and different in Locke, and it is in no small part due to support from Tom Hardy as the titular Ivan Locke, cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos and composer Dickon Hinchcliffe. The premise is interesting and its execution is as engaging as a film played out in a single space could possibly hope to be. However, for me Knight has overlooked a major point of cinema; it is a visual medium, and no amount of sweeping out-of-focus car headlights can hide the fact that 85 minutes of Tom Hardy on the phone is pretty much unsustainable as a piece of cinema. Tom Hardy is engaging and succeeds in making us believe in Ivan as a character, however, the disembodied voices of the other characters reveals Locke to be nothing more than a radio play, none of the other actors manage to get beyond the voice acting that is a mainstay of BBC Radio 4 plays. However, it's good to see a British director and his team trying something different and kudos to Hardy for putting his name to something so non Hollywood. Locke is definitely worth watching, particularly on the big screen, but for me it doesn't quite cut the mustard.

LOCKE is another one of those types of films that everybody raves about, then when you finally sit down to watch it, you realise it's a load of rubbish. And that's coming from somebody who's a fan of single location movies, and who finds the idea of a film featuring a guy inside his car for the entire duration to be something of a challenge. Unfortunately, as a 'thriller', this film falls flat because the plot is so trivial. Tom Hardy essays the role of an ordinary businessman whose life begins to fall apart thanks to some personal problems. The main issue is that said problems are completely unbelievable, not to mention making him a completely unsympathetic character. Some of us are forced to deal with far more stressful things in our everyday lives, so I found the whole thing to be rather pointless; when I found out this was the extent of the plot, I couldn't help but think 'is that it?'. Writer/director Steven Knight previously helmed the Jason Statham vehicle HUMMINGBIRD, which was much more interesting. Even further back, he used to write the screenplays for things like AMAZING GRACE and EASTERN PROMISES, so it's a shame to see him wasting his talent on material like this. I like Hardy and he does his best here, but I couldn't get past his accent, which weaves and tumbles like a drunken boxer in the ring. LOCKE is a waste of time unless you force yourself to enjoy arty movies that think they're a lot better than they are.

A guy in his car on a cell phone I forced myself to watch the entire film, I should get an award for that. How the people who funded this turd were tricked into paying for it is beyond me. Those who tricked them, please PM me, I want to learn how to make people pay Millions for untalented, uncreative ilk. I will be a good student. PS. I also will pay to find out how to stack a websites ratings because this film should be a 2/10 at best. Worst film I have forced myself to watch in the last decade. Horrid.

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.

For Locke's true power as a film to sink in you will need a few days to sit and ponder upon its small yet intricate construction, for in a film that is set almost entirely within the confines of one man's car, Locke deals with many an issue and does so by uncorking a powerhouse Tom Hardy performance and a downright believable script by Brit Steven Knight who here makes up for his dreary directing debut Hummingbird. There will be many out there that have no time for Locke due to its setup and in a way this is not an unjust decision by them for Locke requires much of you as a viewer and does not look to find a way around this. Not perhaps since Ryan Reynolds found himself in a tight situation in Rodrigo Cortes 2010 film Buried has a film relied so heavily on the audience to bear with it and a performer to hold our attention with nothing more than a phone (or Bluetooth) to act alongside with. Locke's tightly focused pacing and realistic scripting are both hugely successful but it is in the performance of Hardy that the film finds its true power and ability to stick with you days after release. Oft cast as the hulking or manic presence within a film as seen in any of Warrior, The Dark Knight Rises or Bronson, Hardy hear is a steely at times inwardly reserved Ivan Locke, a man whose world is crumbling around him despite being sheltered by his luxury ride. Playing Locke with a welsh accent and with a vulnerability within both his eye, Hardy showcases a rarely displayed side to his acting talents that Knight uncovers to great effect. Whether Locke is demanding or pleading, Hardy is in control even though his character is slowly but surely crumbling from within. It's one of the year's best acting turns, unflashy yet utterly commanding, Hardy achieves more with a singly look than some actors do within an entire role. It's worth also mentioning the voice work (the only other people you will hear during the entire movie, no one else is ever seen) of the cast here in Locke, from Olivia Colman through to The Impossible's Tom Holland as Locke's son Eddie, all voice performers give soul to the voices we hear on the phone. A movie to be watched in the tightest surrounds available to you, Locke isn't an easy watch due to its setting and not a movie made for overall public consumption. Locke is however an incredibly smart and well-constructed film that is the perfect showcase for the increasing acting prowess of Tom Hardy, an actor that continues to stake a claim as one of if not the most interesting and diverse performers in the business today. 4 Bluetooth calls out of 5 For more movie reviews and opinions check into - www.jordanandeddie.wordpress.com