Even when his performances are off the mark (his Bane in
The Dark Knight Rises is hard to get past, even for Christopher Nolan apologists), Tom Hardy remains challenging and unique. His good stuff (
Inception, the incendiary English export
Bronson) show us how rare a force he is as an actor.
Locke gives Hardy a chance to up his game even further. Outside of phone calls, this movie is quite literally all Tom Hardy. He’s driving across London over the course of the 85-minute film, wrestling with decisions he’s already made. It’s a bit contrived—what one-man show isn’t?—and yet
Locke holds your interest and delivers plenty of suspense. In addition to Hardy’s terrific performance, credit writer-director Steven Knight, who knows a thing or two about suspense, having previously written
Dirty Pretty Things and
Eastern Promises.
By
Colin Boyd