Locke (2013)

☆ ☆ ☆

Locke (2013) – S. Knight

Want to be stuck in a car for 80 minutes with someone whose life is unravelling? Tom Hardy is driving from somewhere near Birmingham to London for a momentous reason, as part of his plan to be responsible even for his mistakes.  He seems pretty over-controlled for the most part, managing a complex concrete pour for the largest site in Europe (outside of nuclear or military) over the phone, while also dealing with various family members and other callers who reveal the predicament he is in.  Good thing he has Bluetooth hands-free action in his BMW.  This movie sets itself the challenge of making a movie that takes place entirely inside a car that won’t bore people.  It is more or less a single monologue (albeit with people phoning in) – which was Tom Hardy’s personal challenge, I guess.  It takes place at night which means that tiny colored bits of light in geometric shapes cover the screen, reflecting off the windscreen, superimposed on Hardy’s face and everywhere else.  This makes the movie seem experimental.  However, this is one of those movies that is also blue and orange tinted – perhaps every Hollywood movie now is (read this: http://priceonomics.com/why-every-movie-looks-sort-of-orange-and-blue/)  – this distracted me and I’m downgrading the cinematography as a penalty.  And in the end, I don’t think I really wanted to be stuck in the car with this poor sod and his rather mundane self-made problems.