Tom Hardy stars in this single location drama as a man having the worst night of his life on a drive to London. Ivan Locke (Hardy) is a dedicated family man and successful construction manager, who leaves behind an important job in Birmingham, in order to drive to London and make right one of his biggest mistakes. Along the way, Locke has phone conversations with his family and co-workers, as he begins to face the consequences of his sudden decision. Locke also has imaginary discussions with his deceased father, insisting that he will not end up making the same bad decisions, even if it means the destruction of Locke’s personal and professional life. The closest film that can be compared to Locke is the 2010 film Buried. Like that film, Ivan Locke is the only character who appears on screen, with the plot being developed through the multiple phone conversations. While this type of premise may seem monotonous, the film is less about the phone conversations and more about Locke’s reactions too them. It is obvious that Locke made the decision to make this trip to London without thinking it through and he begins to crack as things don’t really go his way. Locke has pent up emotions about his father, which come into play as he makes this trip. Locke is confident that his decision will prevent him from making the same mistakes made by his father. However, it quickly becomes apparent that Locke’s simple plan to “make things right” ends up creating a bigger problems, as his career and personal life begin to crumble, over the course of the trip. It can be seen in his face that Locke is not as together as he thinks he is and he begins to get increasingly frustrated as the calls keep coming and more things start to go wrong. The best way to watch Locke is to know very little about the plot of the film, including the very reason Locke is making his trip. The film literally starts with Locke getting into his car and the revelations are slowly made why Locke decided to suddenly drop everything and make a 90 minute drive to London. However, since the reason for the trip is revealed within the first fifteen minutes or so of the film, it isn’t that big a deal if it is already known. The film more or less plays out in real time, with the film concluding around the time Locke enters London. Locke is a film that only entered into my radar quite recently and I ended up very much loving the film. Tom Hardy is great in the the lead role, especially considering the fact that he is acting against phone conversations for the entire film. Hardy’s expressions in the film really helps to sell the fact that Locke is having the worst night of his life, during this drive to London. Overall, I have to say that Locke was a very pleasant surprise and it will undoubtedly end up being one of my top films of the year. 10 | LOVED IT
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