Locke (2014) Directed by Steven Knight. Starring: Tom Hardy. IMDB says: “Ivan Locke, a dedicated family man and successful construction manager, receives a phone call on the eve of the biggest challenge of his career that sets in motion a series of events that threaten his careful cultivated existence.”
Locke stars Tom Hardy as Ivan Locke, a concrete pourer and family man who has an affair on an out of town job and deals with the consequences of this as he drives to the hospital for the birth of the child that was conceived. He interacts with a few people from work and from his family over the phone while driving to the hospital. The movie takes place from the time he starts driving and ends on his journey.
The real problem with Locke is that the story doesn’t really have a lot to offer the way it’s told. You find out where and why Ivan is driving and what it means for his family and job right away and then the rest of the movie is the aftermath of his decision. Some difficulties arise with his work that he deals with, but there is no real reason to care about the outcome.
The only real tension in the story is how his family is dealing with the news of his affair. His sons just want him to come home to watch a game, but he can’t make it. He tells his wife for the first time of his betrayal over the phone. She deals with it like anyone would over the phone, by hanging up and calling him when she gets her composure. It adds some change up to the film, but the audience isn’t given a real reason the pull for Locke.
The issues are certainly with the production side of the film. Tom Hardy is the only actor who is shown on screen and he does a good job of displaying emotion to drive the story. He plays the character as a likeable guy who is just in a strange situation for who he normally is. Locke is trying desperately to retain the kind of person he is throughout this endeavor. Hardy has been able to accomplish more with other roles, however, despite this movie featuring him alone.
This movie isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just that there doesn’t really feel like there is a need to watch it. There are a few good moments, like when Locke is talking to his sons, but other than these scenes there isn’t much to see. The story is decent, but it isn’t deep enough to balance out a movie that takes place solely in a car.
Locke begins with Tom Hardy, driving with a purpose down the highway. He’s distraught, making calls to coworkers that he will miss the biggest pour in their concrete company history because of a situation he has to deal with. But what could this dire situation be? I was prepared for something thrilling, something that was going to hook me for this long car ride. Turns out, it was just a very simple family drama involving infidelity. Now if this concept could pull off the gimmick of focusing the whole film on this car ride, that would truly be impressive, but it really doesn’t. Locke is ultimately a pointless exercise in filmmaking.
There have been some great films that isolate their lead in a single location, but this not one of them. The subject matter is not interesting enough to warrant this type of film, but the direction does not help. I really was not a fan of how Steven Knight presented Locke. While other films like Buried had an even more confined approach with fantastic results that never felt dull, Locke simply doesn’t succeed with even more freedom. All the shots were repeated to excess. Zoom in to car display screen to see who’s calling – close up of Hardy’s face – medium shot of Hardy’s profile from passenger’s seat – through the window shot with street lights reflecting on the glass. Over and over. At the same time, Knight also tries to get at every possible composition of street lights glaring on various car surfaces to the point where it just felt like it took too much effort. It’s a little too sleek and crafted… a little too similar to a car commercial.
The worst thing about this film is that it’s just boring. I tried to care about this man’s dilemma, but no matter his excuses for cheating on his wife, I never felt much empathy towards Locke. No matter how passionate he was about pouring concrete (I kid you not, at some point he says something along the lines of “you don’t trust God when it comes to concrete”), a construction project was never going to have very high stakes.
And honestly, after the 10th time his phone rang I was tired of him taking calls and having repetitive conversations. I would rather watch Hardy drive along the M6 in silence. Maybe turn on the radio and hum along or something. Yeah, that sounds much better.
