Ivan Locke, a dedicated family man and successful construction manager, receives a phone call on the eve of the biggest challenge of his career that sets in motion a series of events that threaten his carefully cultivated existence.
Leaving the construction site on the eve of a major project, construction manager Ivan Locke receives news that sends him driving the two hours from Birmingham to London, but even further from the life he once knew. Making the decision that he has to make, he then calls his wife, his sons, his co-workers and boss telling them the secret that he is bearing and trying to keep his job and family intact. But even more importantly, he will have to face himself and the choices he has made.Written by
Anne Campbell
The BMW used in the film is installed with a "low fuel warning" alert and would make a noise whenever the car was running out of petrol. The noise disrupted Tom Hardy's performance during takes, but director Steven Knight kept the actor's frustrated reactions in the movie and substituted the car's noise with "you have a call waiting" instead. See more »
Goofs
Whilst driving down the M1 southbound Ivan Locke drives past the junction for Luton Airport (Junction 10), then a few minutes later he drives past the sign for Luton Central (Junction 11). We know that he is driving from the Birmingham area to London. In reality, the Junction for Luton Central comes before the Junction for Luton Airport whilst driving this road. Also, towards the films climax he takes nearly 10 minutes to drive between Junction 6 (North Watford) and Junction 5 (Watford - A41) - in reality this takes about 2 to 3 minutes, even with the 50 mph temporary speed restrictions, and we can see that Ivan Locke is moving at a steady purposeful speed the whole time. See more »
I went to see the movie because the review of the movie said that it would change what you thought about film making. This would be true if you've never seen a movie before, but that is not the case.
Not to say that the movie is not good. It acts as a sort of one man play starring Tom Hardy as Ivan Locke, a man who made a mistake in his past that threatens to unwrap his perfect life when he tries to do the right thing. The movie totally relies on the actor playing the role and Tom steps up to the challenge nicely.
But I've seen this kind of one man play with Buried starring Ryan Reynolds and Brake starring Stephen Dorff. I can even mention other movies like 127hours or Phone booth that have a similar concept.
What makes Locke different is that the pressure of life and death is not there. In those movies the leading (and only) men were threaten with the proposal of death, While in this movie, Ivan Locke's way of Life is threaten with change, and it's this change in the concept that made the movie Quiet and low key, but the filmmakers were still able to make if fast pasted and kinetic (having it take place in a Car going down the highway helps).
The movie had the same pressure of a ticking clock about to explode and the lead character attempting to talk himself out of the situation, but the filmmaker does not force the tension or thrills on you. Ivan Locke's situation is very down to earth and every day to day. Watching him attempt to deal with this situation could have come off boring after a half hour if not for Tom Hardy showing his mental acting chops (versus how physically intimidating he seemed as Bane in Dark Knight Rises, he's a small man in real life).
Though the movie was good to watch I could have gotten the same effect streaming it at home on Netflix. Recommend you do the same.
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I went to see the movie because the review of the movie said that it would change what you thought about film making. This would be true if you've never seen a movie before, but that is not the case.
Not to say that the movie is not good. It acts as a sort of one man play starring Tom Hardy as Ivan Locke, a man who made a mistake in his past that threatens to unwrap his perfect life when he tries to do the right thing. The movie totally relies on the actor playing the role and Tom steps up to the challenge nicely.
But I've seen this kind of one man play with Buried starring Ryan Reynolds and Brake starring Stephen Dorff. I can even mention other movies like 127hours or Phone booth that have a similar concept.
What makes Locke different is that the pressure of life and death is not there. In those movies the leading (and only) men were threaten with the proposal of death, While in this movie, Ivan Locke's way of Life is threaten with change, and it's this change in the concept that made the movie Quiet and low key, but the filmmakers were still able to make if fast pasted and kinetic (having it take place in a Car going down the highway helps).
The movie had the same pressure of a ticking clock about to explode and the lead character attempting to talk himself out of the situation, but the filmmaker does not force the tension or thrills on you. Ivan Locke's situation is very down to earth and every day to day. Watching him attempt to deal with this situation could have come off boring after a half hour if not for Tom Hardy showing his mental acting chops (versus how physically intimidating he seemed as Bane in Dark Knight Rises, he's a small man in real life).
Though the movie was good to watch I could have gotten the same effect streaming it at home on Netflix. Recommend you do the same.