Locke is basically a stage-play rendered for the screen, but it is done so well that it doesn't matter.
Tom Hardy stars as Ivan Locke. He is a construction manager about to oversee a major undertaking the next morning. But instead of tending to his job - or going home to watch the big soccer game with his family - Locke hits the road to London (about 90 minutes away, conveniently) to attend to the birth of his child to a woman he barely knows. On the way, he breaks the news to others and tries to keep his life from shattering. In short, a man spends 90 minutes in the front seat of his car rolling phone calls.
This is not the first stage-play to hit the screen that a filmmaker has to work hard to make cinematic (see, e.g., Rope or Contempt). Writer-director Steven Knight and lead Tom Hardy make it work largely by acknowledging that this is a story of depression and despair more than anger and rage. They thus do not force a showy performance in the lead role and pitch Ivan Locke as a usually unflappable man working hard to keep his life together just as he would work to keep any work project together. This is no bigger than one man's life crumbling, but that's more than big enough to create drama. He deals with his demons - including the specter of his father - but does so quite believably and sympathetically without overplaying the emotions. By keeping tight reins on the proceedings, and by embracing the concept more than running from it, Knight and Hardy make it work. It isn't the type of film that will likely stay with you for long, but it is a pretty good 90 minute ride.
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