REVIEW: Locke

Courtesy of A24

Decent theatrical releases are sparse this time of the year. Kids are back in school, so the big summer blockbusters are gone. But it’s not quite time for the Oscar contenders yet either. So we’re in this cinematic purgatory where studios burn off the product they’re not proud of or don’t know how to market.

Typically, I try to use these few weeks to point readers toward small movies that deserve to be seen but have a hard time finding an audience. This week’s entry is a little out there, but it’s anchored by a stellar performance and a boldly divisive premise. Some may hear what it’s about and check out immediately, but the more adventurous among you are in for a unique experience.

In Locke, Tom Hardy (best known for his work as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises) is the title character – a well-respected construction supervisor who walks away from the most important project of his life. In just a few hours, he’s supposed to oversee the biggest concrete pour in European history, but instead he gets into his BMW and drives off into the night.

He’s traveling from Birmingham to London, roughly a 90-minute drive, to accept responsibility for a choice he made a while back. Along the way, Locke talks with several people on the phone: the frightened woman (Olivia Colman) he’s driving to meet; his confused wife (Ruth Wilson) and children (Tom Holland and Bill Milner); his irate, bewildered boss (Ben Daniels); and the poor sap (Andrew Scott) who’s stuck taking over for him at the construction site.

Over the course of one car ride and a handful of phone calls, viewers watch him completely unravel the life he’s spent years carving out for himself. Why? The answer turns out to be surprisingly simple and weirdly noble.

The more literal-minded among you might be thinking, “Wait. You expect me to spend 85 minutes of my life watching a guy drive and talk on the phone?” But the film is much more than that.  In addition to giving the proceedings the feel of a play, Locke’s conversations reveal what kind of man he is, his mistakes and the momentous decisions he’s willing to make in order to salvage what’s left of his family and career.

We go from knowing nothing about this man to almost everything in 85 minutes, and it’s never boring thanks to a combination of Hardy’s performance and writer/director Steven Knight’s visual and narrative acrobatics. Yes, the whole movie is a guy in a car; but the rapid editing and constantly changing camera angles make the story feel like a thriller rather than a combination of domestic and corporate drama.

It’s astonishing to watch Hardy expertly handle what is essentially a one-man show (not to disparage the other actors’ effective vocal performances). His character is a logical man, always looking for step-by-step instructions to handle any crisis, even though the people he speaks to understandably believe he’s not exactly behaving rationally himself.

As he finishes one phone call after another, Hardy allows Locke to have a moment of despair or angry catharsis, but then it’s back to business. He locks his emotions down and looks for the quickest way out of his many crises. The actor employs Knight’s dialogue wonderfully. Some might complain the many monologues aren’t realistic, but I loved the heightened sense of drama that the flowery sentences bring to the narrative – especially since Hardy employs a killer Welsh accent.

The only element of the film that doesn’t quite work is the clumsy ongoing conversation Locke has with the “ghost” of his deadbeat dad, represented by the BMW’s rearview mirror. I can see how the metaphor might work on paper, especially considering how it relates to the character’s motivation for this unusual car ride, but every time Hardy glances up to rage against someone who isn’t there, it’s inadvertently comical. It seems like it would’ve been more effective to make his arguments with his father yet another series of phone calls in the rotation.

I’ll be the first to admit that Locke isn’t for everyone. If you think of movies as simply entertainment – rather than art that should sometimes challenge its audience – this might not be the viewing experience for you. But the more I think about the film, the more I like it. If you’re willing to take a chance, I bet you’ll like it too (or at least respect it as an extraordinary acting exercise).

The best news is it’s available on Redbox right now. So even if you give it a shot and still hate it, you’re out less than two bucks. That’s a pretty small gamble to take on a movie you might love.

Locke is rated R for language throughout.

Grade: B+