Steven Knight's Locke Review

A Hollywood film starring Tom Hardy has come to represent action, thrill, and suspense in the language of present day cinema. The English actor most known for roles in Inception, Lawless, and Dark Knight Rises took a step out of his blockbuster norm by playing Ivan Locke in Steven Knight’s independent film titled Locke.

The film opens with Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy) at a construction site taking off his dirty clothes and entering into a spotless BMW.  Locke serves as the headman in charge of overseeing the largest cement pour in Europe. An early assumption of a quick ride after a long days work swiftly turns into a road trip for the spectator. This car becomes the home for Locke and the spectator as he drives the entire film with his life unraveling for the audience through his many conversations.

The conversations that Locke has throughout the film carry the narrative to different heights that the film could not achieve otherwise. The power of the “acousmetre” (as renowned sound film theorists Michal Chion puts it) is illustrated through the characterization through voice in the film. Most recently, the success of Spike Lee’s Academy Award winning Her has furthered this characterization of voice and the ear of the spectator in narrative film.

Months ago while Locke was away for a business trip, he partook in a one night stand in which a baby was conceived. It becomes understood that this road trip is for Locke's presence of the baby's birth. Locke’s wife Katrina (Ruth Wilson) learns of his infidelity on the phone while he is in route to the hospital. Katrina’s feelings of sadness and betrayal carry over to her foil Bethan (Olivia Coleman) who is pregnant with Locke’s child and awaiting his presence to give birth.

Locke juggles conversations between Bethan and Katrina along with his sons Sean (Bill Milner), Eddie (Tom Holland) that are naive of his whereabouts. His snappy boss Gareth(Ben Daniels) threatens his job due to his absence of the major pour while his eccentric assistant Donal (Andrew Scott) attempts to pick up the pieces of Locke's mess.  

Each conversation reveals a different part of Locke’s complex identity and desire for moral peace. This road trip representing Locke’s epiphany of ethical choice may ultimately result in the loss of the family, job, and lifestyle he worked so hard to attain.

The aesthetic details in Locke are simple yet complex in meaning. They undeniably aid in telling his story. The uses of lighting along with cinematography are used affectively with details such as rain and technology to enhance its motives. Cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos along with director Steven Knight created narrative depth with every position of the camera.  Whether given the perspective from inside the car, a nearby vehicle, or even a rear view mirror; the dimensions are endless.

Nonetheless, portraying real life can at times be extremely slow.  The pace and drag of this film literally makes the spectator feel alongside Locke for the entire two and a half long car drive. The emotions of anxiety, annoyance, and simple frustration occasionally follow. The film only consists of Tom Hardy driving, talking on the phone, and having three to five minute soliloquies with his dead father in the back seat.

Hardy’s performance was a one man show similar to Phone Booth or Bob Birdnow’s Remarkable Tale of Human Survival and the Transcendence of Self.  He portrays Locke with a Welsh accent that could at times potentially come across more New Delhi Indian at times. Nevertheless, through the aesthetic means and characterizations imbedded within the film, he is still an interesting character. The intensity of Locke through his eyes illustrates a coded perplexity that causes the spectator constantly wonder what he is thinking. I still, however, would not rank it as Hardy’s best performance as I feel the presence of the unseen voices carry the film greater than Hardy alone.

 Sitting alongside individuals with perplexed looks on their faces, waiting for a man to randomly jump out of the back seat or for the car to crash based on Tom Hardy’s past Hollywood blockbusters was a humorous experience beyond the film itself.

If your moviegoer sophistication is open and willing to create a world outside of a confined 2013 BMW than the aesthetic forms of lighting, cinematography, editing, and theoretical gravity will be of quite significance and appreciation to you in Locke. The film was shot amazingly in eight days with three cameras, a car mount, and Hardy performing the entire script take after take. The innovation created in the film aesthetically is nothing less than impressive. Despite this, with aesthetic aside and narration in full spotlight, if you desire to see a traditional box office Tom Hardy film filled with action, charm, and excitement; be warned, this film is not for you.

Rating: B