Review: Locke

Tom Hardy plays a construction engineer and family man driving from Birmingham to London. We follow him on the long drive as he makes and answers several phone calls (hands free, of course) throughout dealing with both professional and personal crises all at once. And yes, that’s all the plot synopsis you’ll get out of me. You’ll thank me for being vague later.

 

What at first sounds like “Buried” in a moving car (shot in less than two weeks to boot!), this 2014 film from writer/director Steven Knight (writer of “Eastern Promises”, writer-director of the unusual Jason Statham flick “Hummingbird”) is not that kind of film at all, really. It’s not a gimmicky thriller at all, but a rather sad drama, and not a plot or action-heavy film. Much more internal than “Buried”, this is a one-man acting exercise and Tom Hardy is more than up to the task. There’s something rather moving about it. This guy has fucked up and he’s desperately trying to patch everything up, whilst also dealing with a tense work situation. Hardy really needed to bring it here, because it’s not a film with a whole lot going on, his performance really is just about everything, and he’s terrific.

 

I don’t think it’s as great as a lot of other people seem to think, but it’s a solid film and only slightly contrived that all of this stuff is happening to Hardy on the one night. Eliminate the calls to the wife (which, although important, aren’t entirely realistic) and the film would be even better. It’s certainly not boring, and for some reason, there’s a kind of soothing quality to Hardy’s chosen Welsh accent here that is appealing. It might get annoying if you had to hear it all day long, though (he borders on sounding patronising once or twice I must admit).

 

I suppose you could argue that the film could’ve gone longer and told more of its story, but I rather like the ending. It’s a good film, if not the film I was expecting, and not a film for everyone. Certainly a must for Tom Hardy fans though, he’s terrific here in a real showcase for his acting talents.

 

Rating: B-