A Fascinating Script And A Detached Driver Are All Locke Needs To Be Transfixing

One of Tom Hardy's most prominent trait as an actor up to this point has been his tendency to do these highly exaggerated voices for some of his characters, such as his heavy Southern drawl in The Revenant, that deep frequently incoherent Venom voice or his iconic Bane voice. Many actors use different voices across different performances but what makes Hardy special is that he goes all-in on some really unique and odd vocal choices. Sure, numerous actors do both American and British accents in their careers, but how many have decided that a Bugs Bunny impression was just what the doctor ordered for a portrayal of Al Capone?


That makes the 2014 thriller Locke something truly unique in Hardy's filmography, it's the rare time he's been confined to just playing a normal human being without any accompanying exaggerated vocal ticks. This human being is Ivan Locke, a married construction foreman who we meet leaving work early so that he can go an extensive drive. For the entirety of the runtime afterward, we're stuck with Ivan Locke in his car as he answers a variety of cell phone calls (done through his cars speakerphone feature so that the viewer can hear what's being said on the other end of the line) that are tied into why he's decided to leave work early, thus jeopardizing an impending massively important project that Ivan is supposed to supervise.

Why would Ivan, a guy who is so dedicated to work that it damages his family life, decide to skip on such a pivotal assignment? Turns out a lonely woman he slept with several months prior is about to have their child and because his own father was entirely absent from his life when he was born under similar circumstances, he's determined to show up to this child's birth. This decision means Ivan's entire life begins to unravel in a matter of hours and we get to watch it all unfold solely from the perspective of Ivan in his automobile, who reacts to everything happening around them with this matter-of-fact calmness that's trying to approach these momentously Earth-shattering turn of events with detached frankness.

You ever run into someone who wonders why you're reacting so emotionally to, like, news about discrimination of people of color or LGBTQA+ individuals that should get an emotional rise out of any rational person? Ivan Locke is just like that, a dude who's trying to sweep his understandably shaken wife's feelings under the rug by approaching all of his actions with this stone-faced straightforward nature that he claims is to help other confront the situation at hand but is obviously being done so that he can try to minimize the consequences of what he's done. Through our expansive amount of time spent in his car, it's clear that Ivan Locke is a guy who prides himself on getting things done rather than actually connecting with others.

This gets exemplified by recurring conversations Locke has with his deceased father (Locke looks to an empty backseat whenever he carries on these exchanges), the man who was absent from his life for 22 years but then tried to come back to his son's life after coming to terms with his addiction. The thought of someone reconciling their own actions and seeking forgiveness sickens Ivan Locke, he would much rather just press onward with his mechanical approach to life rather than confront complicated human relationships. It's clear that Ivan Locke wants everything in his life to be as straightforward as the instruction manuals at his construction site but that's not remotely how life works.

People just aren't that simple and watching him fail to grasp that over the runtime of Locke is fascinating to watch, especially since Steven Knight makes some great choices to highlight just how detached from empathetic emotions Ivan Locke is. Most notably, Ivan Locke doesn't really a gradual decline into deranged behavior as the film goes on, aside from the occasional outburst, he stays at a steady mellow demeanor that subtly but terrifyingly demonstrates his lack of actual emotional connection to the world around him. Not even the prospect of losing his family rattles him out of his default personality, he still maintains the same businesslike composure whether he's talking to his wife or a co-worker helping him pull off the following day's massive project.

The fact that Knight's script shows such dedicated commitment to keeping the story contained in just one environment is remarkably admirable and as a director, Knight also translates such a restrained story onto the screen beautifully. Recognizing the limited amount of space at his disposal, there's clearly real thought given into the underlying significance of shifting from one shot of Locke in his car to another and the realistic way Knight visually depicts Locke talking to his deceased father (which eschews going with fantastical elements like ghosts or even just a vision of his father that exists only in Locke's mind in favor of a starkly empty backseat) has a sense of gloom to it that elicits a twinge of melancholy sympathy for how much the past has ensnared the mind of this man. Such thoughtful visual touches are accompanied by a phenomenal performance by Tom Hardy, who may not have a bold accent to work with here, but does still put in sublime work as a performer in bringing the lead character of Locke to life.