Film 44 - Locke

Locke - 1/05/2014

With a hard decision to either turn left and go home to his wife and kids or turn right to deal with a problem that is life changing, Tom Hardy's Locke makes a difficult choice.

On paper, Locke does not have the interest levels turned up to 11.  Tom Hardy is driving to London whilst making phones calls via blutooth to his work, the council, his wife and kids, and the problem that lies ahead.  I learnt more about concrete in this film than any other film I have watched, ever!

Only Tom Hardy is present for the whole film, no other actors are given any screen time, but I felt close to ever person on the phone, I knew what they looked like, I could sense how they were feeling.  Having just Tom Hardy on screen is not a bad thing (for those of you who don't know, I may have a little man-crush on him), he is brilliant as Locke.  A man who has made a terrible mistake and chooses to deal with it rather than hide away.

A completely engaging film that focuses on character development, there are no car chases, no explosions, no big set pieces, just brilliant acting from everyone.  The excitement come from having the right mix of concrete, making sure the re bar's are sorted, know the score of the match, and of course the resolve of the "problem".

I am in strong belief that the less you know of the film, the more you will enjoy, which is why I am not really going into "the problem" much

One thing that did keep taking me out of the film was the avoidance of product placement.  Ivan Locke gets into his BMW at the start of the film and the logo is evident throughout, but conversations on the phone refer to "The German Lager", "The Football Team", "
The cider I like", surely they could have even made up names like they do on popular TV Soaps, such as Stellberg, or just done normal product placement.

I don't think the cinema experience adds anything to this film and it is perfectly fine to watch at home on Netflix (or LoveFilm), but it is definitely worth a watch.

Clare's 1 word review: imaginative