Monday, August 03, 2015

Movie review - "Locke" (2013) ***1/2

One of those gimmick films, like Buried or Phone Booth - this was one person driving in a car in real time talking on the phone. It gets points for not being about a gangster, soldier or assassin - he's just a regular guy... well, a reasonably successful concrete worker (his car is very nice) driving north to attend the birth of his son... to a woman not his wife. He's got to break the news to his wife, deal with a lot of concrete hassle, and also handle stresses of the baby coming.

At times - I admit it - I wish there was gunplay or murder involved but for the most part this was surprisingly engrossing. It took me a few minutes to get into it, but I did, helped by Tom Hardy's strong performance (he plays it in a Welsh accent). Occasionally the drive feels padded and you can't help wondering if at heart this wasn't a 30 or 50 minute episode of a TV anthology drama. But matters are helped by strong acting from the voices at the other end of the phone, and some beautiful photography and lovely music.

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