The small budget indie film, Locke, is, simply put, incredible. And indelible – a riveting, unforgettable dramatic experience. It had only a limited released in the US, which may be why you (and I) didn’t see it at that time. Locke stars Tom Hardy who gives an incredibly nuanced, emotionally wide-ranging performance. The premise is simple and if the movie wasn’t so perfectly rendered, one would be tempted to say it’s a gimmick. A man in his car, alone, at night, fields a series of phone calls which, taken together, reveal not only his story but also, most interestingly, his character.
The man, Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy), has just learned that there is something he absolutely must do, so much so that he has to go off immediately to, as he puts it, “fix things”. It is a moral imperative for him. Locke is a construction site manager in Birmingham, UK, a guy widely regarded as the best in his field – knowledgeable, meticulously prepared, extremely competent, reliable, etc. He is in the midst of a huge project, which will become the biggest building in the region, the most critical component of which – pouring the concrete base - will occur beginning early tomorrow morning, but he must go off anyway. His wife and kids, huge football fans all, have been planning a special dinner to watch the most crucial game of the season, but Locke is on the road to London, instead. The phone calls – to and from his boss, his assistant, his kids, his wife, and more – suggest that tonight will be a crucible for Locke, with everything in his life on the line.
It’s not like Locke to be so unreliable; yet reliability and responsibility are at the core of this night’s mysterious mission; he just can’t talk about it to those closest to him. Locke has a secret, and I’m not about to reveal it here. You’d best hear it from Locke himself.
Says one of my favorite reviewers, Robbie Collin of The Telegraph, “If you are asking an audience to listen to one man talking for an hour and a half, you had better make sure he is worth listening to, and minute-by-minute, Hardy has you spellbound.“ All the more remarkable because Hardy’s Locke mostly speaks in measured, carefully considered, calming tones most of the time – trying to exude strength, confidence and reasonableness as he talks to his increasingly distressed interlocutors on the other end of his calls. Interestingly, although British, Hardy has added a soft Welsh accent to his voice, which, like everything else in this picture is a lovely, effective choice. Still, we’re in the car with him and can see that his cool, steady manner is belied by his eyes, his posture behind the wheel, and his increasingly passionate one-way conversation with his deceased old man. Those speeches to dad are the closest we get to melodramatics; mostly, it is Hardy/Locke’s steely tension that draws us in.
The voices on the other end of the line? The likes of Ruth Wilson, Olivia Coleman, Andrew Scott, and Ben Daniels.
Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post comments, “In many ways, the movie feels like the reply to a question : what would happen if we pared down moviemaking to its simplest, most elemental bones? “
As with a sonnet, with its structural constraints, the “man-in-a-can” format chosen by writer-director Steven Knight forced him to up his creative game, for he has tell this compelling story without relying on any of the usual visual and narrative elements. So, there’s no shifting of environments and locations, no physical action, no other onscreen characters, no flashbacks, special effects, voiceovers, and so forth. Locke is not isolated – he has cell phone dealings with other people - but the visual experience and our full attention is focused on this one man. I have to agree with critic Mick LaSalle of the SF Chronicle, who notes: “Cinema is not about special effects, but about the human condition and a face in close-up. For those in doubt, Locke is proof.”
You’d think this would feel claustrophobic, and in a way it does. But this closeness is not a drag, but rather an intensifier. It actually bolsters a major theme of Locke. As Peter Galvin of Australia’s public broadcasting has observed, “Knight traps us inside the world of a guy who is himself trapped.” Which is true, except that Ivan Locke doesn’t feel trapped exactly. He’s the kind of person who sees difficulties, even major ones, as challenges to be overcome. He knows this is his moment of truth and wants to believe that if his actions are morally correct, he can fix things. Whether he’s right is for us to decide.
The script is tight as a drum. The cinematography (Haris Zambarloukos) is inventive. The voices of the supporting actors are vital, sympathetic and credible. But ultimately, the power and beauty of Locke rests with Hardy’s brilliant performance. “Moment by moment, with a twitch, a shudder, a look, it's Hardy who movingly draws you in, turning a stranger's face into a life.” says the Times’ Manohla Dargis. And here is Anthony Lane of the New Yorker: “The movie's greatest asset is Hardy , who's rich, unflappable tones, even in times of high emotional pressure, bear a distinct echo of Richard Burton; here is a man who rolls up his sleeves at the wheel and sets about trying to save his own life.” You see, this is a film about a man on a mission of salvation. His own.
I’ve quoted a lot of film critics here, far more than usual. Maybe it’s because I want to make the point that this is quite an extraordinary film, and it’s not just me that thinks so. I think you’ll find the picture engrossing, exhilarating and moving. Locke really is something special.
85 minutes MPAA rating: R [for expletives under pressure]
Grade: A
Available free with access to Kanopy, Hoopla and Showtime
Available to rent from Amazon, Vudu, AppleTV and other streaming services.
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