DVD REVIEW: LOCKE
Unlike me, the Washington Post rarely gives out four star reviews, and when they do it's for sure a movie to be taken notice of. Their most recent one to my knowledge was Guardians of the Galaxy, a very fitting rating for such a fantastic piece of pop art. So back when, around April or so, I saw Locke got it's highest possible rating, I added it instantly to my list of movies to check out for later. When I finally got the opportunity to watch it, I popped it in with eagerness, anxious to see how if it's praise and lauding was legit...and I've never been so thankful for the Washington Post.
This review may be short, as describing what Locke concerns is giving away the movie's very element of surprise, how it creeps up on you. How you slowly, and this is all I'll say, start to realize that, however confident and reassuring his Ivan Locke may appear, Tom Hardy plays a man who in the course of a few hours begins to experience his life deteriorate before him, vanish into thin air as he drives to a destination he won't allow himself to be absent from. I w
ill provide some interesting trivia: the movie was filmed in the course of one night, and then repeated for a week, with voice actors in hotels reciting their lines as Tom Hardy picked up the calls on his car's phone system. So what we're seeing is essentially a play performance, cut together to include the best takes, with a stylish background of cars, streetlights and signs in-between the monologues and dialogues Locke exchanges with family, coworkers and...others.
Before going into Hardy, who I talked about in depth a few years back before his iconic role as Bane, I want to congratulate one other actor in particular: Andrew Scott. His Donal, one of Locke's coworkers, is occasionally bumbling, tipsy, aggravated, but he alone is the film's main source of humor amid the devastating backdrop of material with a ton of gravity. He was a joy to listen to. But now on to the man whose shoulders mostly carried this film's weight: Mr. Hardy. I watched the film that caught Christopher Nolan's eye to lead to his international breakout in Inception; Bronson, where he plays the most dangerous prisoner in Britain. He was brash, violent, psychopathic even, but he was always fascinating to observe. He's the exact opposite here: restrained, calm, with a soothing Welsh accent. Your emotions run the gamut with this man: he's a creep, he's disturbed, he's a good father, a great worker, he's pathetic, he's lonely, he's passionate. You only see his top torso, but, expressing himself with telling facial expressions and plenty of profanity, you see completely the man Ivan Locke is, and what he will be once this endless night comes to a close.
Steven Knight (who weirdly just had The Hundred-Foot Journey come out, which he wrote, especially since it's the last thing I'd imagine him penning) has created a severely flawed man, but never an unlikable one. The truth is so pure here you'd be disappointed to see anything else come out Locke's mouth, he's one of the most honest men I've seen depicted on film. Great direction, a bravura solo performance from Hardy, appealing night visuals and some absolutely brilliant, Oscar-worthy writing, Locke is sure to become the movie cinephiles protest the most over that was robbed at this year's upcoming Academy Awards.
This review may be short, as describing what Locke concerns is giving away the movie's very element of surprise, how it creeps up on you. How you slowly, and this is all I'll say, start to realize that, however confident and reassuring his Ivan Locke may appear, Tom Hardy plays a man who in the course of a few hours begins to experience his life deteriorate before him, vanish into thin air as he drives to a destination he won't allow himself to be absent from. I w
ill provide some interesting trivia: the movie was filmed in the course of one night, and then repeated for a week, with voice actors in hotels reciting their lines as Tom Hardy picked up the calls on his car's phone system. So what we're seeing is essentially a play performance, cut together to include the best takes, with a stylish background of cars, streetlights and signs in-between the monologues and dialogues Locke exchanges with family, coworkers and...others.
Before going into Hardy, who I talked about in depth a few years back before his iconic role as Bane, I want to congratulate one other actor in particular: Andrew Scott. His Donal, one of Locke's coworkers, is occasionally bumbling, tipsy, aggravated, but he alone is the film's main source of humor amid the devastating backdrop of material with a ton of gravity. He was a joy to listen to. But now on to the man whose shoulders mostly carried this film's weight: Mr. Hardy. I watched the film that caught Christopher Nolan's eye to lead to his international breakout in Inception; Bronson, where he plays the most dangerous prisoner in Britain. He was brash, violent, psychopathic even, but he was always fascinating to observe. He's the exact opposite here: restrained, calm, with a soothing Welsh accent. Your emotions run the gamut with this man: he's a creep, he's disturbed, he's a good father, a great worker, he's pathetic, he's lonely, he's passionate. You only see his top torso, but, expressing himself with telling facial expressions and plenty of profanity, you see completely the man Ivan Locke is, and what he will be once this endless night comes to a close.Steven Knight (who weirdly just had The Hundred-Foot Journey come out, which he wrote, especially since it's the last thing I'd imagine him penning) has created a severely flawed man, but never an unlikable one. The truth is so pure here you'd be disappointed to see anything else come out Locke's mouth, he's one of the most honest men I've seen depicted on film. Great direction, a bravura solo performance from Hardy, appealing night visuals and some absolutely brilliant, Oscar-worthy writing, Locke is sure to become the movie cinephiles protest the most over that was robbed at this year's upcoming Academy Awards.
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