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Tom Hardy in Locke (A24 Films)
What it's about:
This adrenaline-fuelled thriller from Dirty Pretty things director Steven Knight centres on Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy), a man who has worked hard to craft a good life for himself and his family.
However, a single phone call causes Locke's world to suddenly collapse around him. On the eve of the biggest challenge of his career, the call in motion a series of events that threaten to unravel his family, his job, and even his soul.
What we thought:
The synopsis of this film might not sound exactly thrilling, especially as you only ever see the main actor, Tom Hardy, and the rest of the cast are just voices on a telephone, it is in no way a boring film. It is a compelling, emotionally driven narrative that is stripped to the bare necessities. And you couldn’t have chosen a better driver.
Although at times it feels like a very long advertisement for BMW’s hands-free system, the film is a gem amongst the big blockbusters and depends almost entirely on the director (who is also the screenwriter) and the single actor, who has only voices and himself to push the plot along. Hardy plays a man who has tried to do right by everyone, but unfortunately the life he has so carefully crafted, like his buildings, comes tumbling down because of one mistake. It is amazing how much can happen in a single car ride and it is no wonder director/writer Steven Knight has won at least the British Independent Film Awards for Best Screenplay.
Lock’s family and work life is in serious jeopardy and how he tries to balance it all is what makes it intriguing, and a sprinkling of good ol’ English humour kept it from becoming sombre and dull. But the real weapon used to keep the audience’s attention is the suspense of not knowing if he’s driving towards his problem or running away. The longer he drives, the more you understand his obsession with trying to fix everything, but the cracks start to show. Like all his buildings, he thought he had a strong foundation, but he underestimated the effect his past would have on it.
Of course, the voices behind the telephone were also brilliant. They had to convey without facial expressions and the emotion that came through the speakers were palpable. My favourite of course was Locke’s inexperienced protégé who he had to rely on to finish his big project. If you are a Sherlock (BBC-Cumberbatch-amazingness) fan, you will recognise the series’ Jim Moriarty played by Andrew Scott. As he provides comic relief, Locke’s wife drives the emotional duress part of the narrative, was played by Ruth Wilson (The Lone Ranger).
Locke is very much like watching one-man show at a theatre or reading well-written short story. If you appreciate the art of storytelling in its simplest form, I would definitely recommend this piece of art, which highlights how fragile our seemingly perfect lives are, and that it only takes a few choice cracks to bring down a skyscraper.
This adrenaline-fuelled thriller from Dirty Pretty things director Steven Knight centres on Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy), a man who has worked hard to craft a good life for himself and his family.
However, a single phone call causes Locke's world to suddenly collapse around him. On the eve of the biggest challenge of his career, the call in motion a series of events that threaten to unravel his family, his job, and even his soul.
What we thought:
The synopsis of this film might not sound exactly thrilling, especially as you only ever see the main actor, Tom Hardy, and the rest of the cast are just voices on a telephone, it is in no way a boring film. It is a compelling, emotionally driven narrative that is stripped to the bare necessities. And you couldn’t have chosen a better driver.
Although at times it feels like a very long advertisement for BMW’s hands-free system, the film is a gem amongst the big blockbusters and depends almost entirely on the director (who is also the screenwriter) and the single actor, who has only voices and himself to push the plot along. Hardy plays a man who has tried to do right by everyone, but unfortunately the life he has so carefully crafted, like his buildings, comes tumbling down because of one mistake. It is amazing how much can happen in a single car ride and it is no wonder director/writer Steven Knight has won at least the British Independent Film Awards for Best Screenplay.
Lock’s family and work life is in serious jeopardy and how he tries to balance it all is what makes it intriguing, and a sprinkling of good ol’ English humour kept it from becoming sombre and dull. But the real weapon used to keep the audience’s attention is the suspense of not knowing if he’s driving towards his problem or running away. The longer he drives, the more you understand his obsession with trying to fix everything, but the cracks start to show. Like all his buildings, he thought he had a strong foundation, but he underestimated the effect his past would have on it.
Of course, the voices behind the telephone were also brilliant. They had to convey without facial expressions and the emotion that came through the speakers were palpable. My favourite of course was Locke’s inexperienced protégé who he had to rely on to finish his big project. If you are a Sherlock (BBC-Cumberbatch-amazingness) fan, you will recognise the series’ Jim Moriarty played by Andrew Scott. As he provides comic relief, Locke’s wife drives the emotional duress part of the narrative, was played by Ruth Wilson (The Lone Ranger).
Locke is very much like watching one-man show at a theatre or reading well-written short story. If you appreciate the art of storytelling in its simplest form, I would definitely recommend this piece of art, which highlights how fragile our seemingly perfect lives are, and that it only takes a few choice cracks to bring down a skyscraper.
