Locke is a very easy movie to describe, it’s Tom Hardy in a car for 85 minutes, what you might not expect is how tense and mesmerizing it is and one of the best films I’ve seen this year.  It seems like what should be a one man play and the movie is an absolute disaster if not for an actor of Hardy’s caliber.  A movie that could’ve easily come off as a gimmick instead thrills from the very beginning and hardly takes its foot off the gas.

We first meet the character of Ivan Locke, played by Tom Hardy, on a car ride.  He’s received a phone call and we quickly understand that that one phone call could bring his whole life to a crashing halt.  It’s obvious very early that Locke is a man of structure and control.  From his job to his family, Locke has crafted a life for himself and every bit of it is perfectly constructed.  What unfolds is the attempt of one man to keep everything together in the face of uncertainty.  Hardy’s performance is nothing short of perfection.  He’s made a choice knowing full well what the repercussions of that choice could be but he’s principled and once he’s started on the road there is no turning back.  The rest of the film is shot close up to Hardy as he navigates his way on a drive to London and is forced to field calls concerning every aspect of his life.  We never leave the confines of the car and yet the film is so fully realized and shot in a way that keeps the action fresh and dramatic.

The outstanding thing about Locke to me is how real the stakes are.  So recently the movies we’re presented with are end of the world actioners and super hero adventures where one wrong decision and the world as we know it will never be the same.  The stakes are high but unrealistic and while those movies are incredibly fun and engaging to me it was such a change to see a movie where what’s at stake is so real and grounded.  Locke isn’t racing against a ticking bomb or a super villain, he’s racing against something so tangible that with every passing second and mile marker we feel his frustration and fear of the unknown.  In Locke, director Steven Knight has crafted a modern classic that deserves a wider audience and not just because of Hardy’s performance but because they both have shown what the medium can accomplish when done at such a high level of craftsmanship.

Recommend? I can’t recommend it enough.