Locke

The line between happiness and damnation can be dangerously fragile. Nothing groundbreaking, but nevertheless unique in the way it presents to the viewer the theme of the total inner disintegration of a balanced personality; from the first person, in the closed world of one car, where the work and personal lines of a major life transition collide over the phone, changing the protagonist's life from hour to hour. The conversations are well-written and give ample space to portray the psychological and emotional levels of Tom Hardy, whose performance again beautifully complements the depressing narrative tone and adds an unadorned authenticity to everything. (02/01/2017)

Tom Hardy can fully demonstrate why he is such a great actor. The camera focuses only on him the whole time, we don't see anyone else. To carry the entire film like this is an art and only a few actors can do it. Like Robert Redford, for example. Tom Hardy also belongs to them, and even though it's actually a relatively simple story and no epic things are addressed, it's still thrilling. An hour and a half of one person's life. It shows that our lives are not boring at all. (08/07/2014)

An excellent solo performance by Tom Hardy, who drives a car for 90 minutes and no one but him appears in the film. His life is falling apart, his mistress is giving birth, his disgraced wife is crying and vomiting, and 218 trucks are supposed to bring him as much concrete in nine hours as is needed for the largest concrete construction in the history of Europe. The dialogues take place on the level of gradually escalating telephone calls and are excellent (on the other hand, Hardy's monologues are slightly stilted and not as interesting). Formally, it's a bit like the film Buried (which entirely takes place in a coffin for a change). Director and screenwriter Steven Knight was able to handle a difficult topic extremely well, and with the small space given to him he played out a fully functional and realistic drama that is a lot of fun the entire time (and has its funny moments). (07/04/2014)

Hardy just needs to be placed in a car, given a quality script, and he will conjure up a minimalist acting concert for you through phone calls that will slowly wrap you around his finger. Ivan Locke loses everything he has built during a single - not even two-hour - drive (literally). I enjoyed slowly figuring out what kind of person Ivan really is. Although I found him quite likable - especially through phone calls where he discussed matters related to the upcoming massive construction project involving concrete pouring - I rather empathized with the people in his closest circle (wife, children, "mistress") whom he manipulated without fully realizing that he was doing many things wrong. Instead, he lied to himself, convincing himself that he had only made one mistake, and even for noble reasons. But the world is not black and white, and his character is too complex to unequivocally say whether he is a good or bad person. And that's why Locke feels so real and convincing. (06/18/2018)

The thriller label that Filmbooster and IMBD gave to Locke generates the wrong expectations. I waited pretty long for those family and work phone calls to be interrupted by some extortionist or psychopath who would terrorise the protagonist over the phone. Yet, to my surprise, nobody like that called and the entire film stayed with the work and family calls. But it wasn’t boring even for a second, which must be credited to all interested parties. (08/02/2014)