Film Review: Locke

If watching Sin City is akin to reading a Frank Miller comic book on screen, watching Locke comes very close to reading an Arthur Miller novel. The movie captures the series of events on a fateful night in the life of Ivan Locke, a dedicated construction worker and family man. Locke has received a potentially life-altering phone call that night, following which he has to drive to London from his hometown Birmingham, an action that sets into motion a chain of events that turns his life upside down. Almost the entire movie is filmed inside the confinement of Locke's BMW, from which he is making and receiving a series of phone calls to hold it all together. Locke is on a mission, one that is fueled partly by his dogged commitment to his work and partly by an intrinsic sense of morality and masculinity. He is determined to do the right thing, even at a great personal and professional loss.

Tom Hardy, who plays Ivan Locke, is the only on-screen actor seen in this movie. There are other people with whom he talks to on his car phone, voiced by several notable actors including the talented Olivia Colman and Andrew Scott (who played Moriarty in the recent BBC adaptation of Sherlock). In what is probably one of the best roles in his acting life, Hardy delivers a superbly compelling performance in the lead role. Mark my words: Tom Hardy is a brilliant, amazing actor. No praise can be enough for the way he effortlessly overcomes the claustrophobic restraint of the inside of his car and unravels the destiny of a man whose world can come crumbling down in a matter of a few hours. This is not a movie to everybody's liking, but try this one out: you might be pleasantly surprised.