No Turning Back

Als ob man in realer Zeit mit versteckten Kameras eine Autofahrt von einem Mann aufnehmen würde, der beim Telefonieren eine schwere Lebenssituation klärt. Die könnte ihm während einer Nacht sein erfolgreiches Arbeitsleben sowie persönliches Leben auf den Kopf stellen. Es ist eine Situation, die sein Charakter prüft, welcher während seiner schwierigen Kindheit geformt wurde. Gleichzeitig ist die Situation auch aus beruflicher Sicht anspruchsvoll, sie fordert Verantwortung für das Umsetzen einer wichtigen gesellschaftlichen Sache. Als ob es ein charismatischer Mann wäre, dessen Emotionen und Dilemmata man versteht, und Mitleid mit ihm hat. Dann reicht es, daraus 85 Minuten zusammenzuschneiden, und man hat einen spannenden Knaller – eine Charakterstudie einer super gespielten Filmfigur. Nicht jeder wird es verstehen, nicht jeder würde sich gleich verhalten. Deshalb ist der Film gleichzeitig ein interessanter Test der Werte von den Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauern. Das Leben kann hart sein, aber für einen prima Film reicht auch wenig Kohle. Wenn man sein Handwerk kann. (25.04.2020)

The thriller label that Filmbooster and IMBD gave to Locke generates the wrong expectations. I waited pretty long for those family and work phone calls to be interrupted by some extortionist or psychopath who would terrorise the protagonist over the phone. Yet, to my surprise, nobody like that called and the entire film stayed with the work and family calls. But it wasn’t boring even for a second, which must be credited to all interested parties. (02.08.2014)

Imagine a movie that takes place in a car and it has a single character whom you watch for the entire hour and a half. I can’t help but be happy with the result, because Tom Hardy delivered a great performance. Steven Knight, in turn, did a great job directing this movie so I was on tenterhooks the entire time, bating my breath and wondering how easy it is to mess up your entire life. (19.12.2014)

A road movie with a depressing aftertaste. Hardy and his BMW never leave the screen and just watching the suffering in the face of the former is worth it. A self-confident person slips slowly into being a mental wreck, but you don’t find out if he goes over the edge until the end. One mistake, one road, one bad day. Donald, don’t trust God when it comes to concrete! (04.08.2014)

On a minimum of space, there are quite a lot of emotions, for which, rather than the clumsy script (hysterics on the phone, talking to oneself in the rearview mirror?), the great Tom Hardy is responsible. Then there is also the best advertisement for the BMW multimedia interface in recent years and a few neon lights taken digitally to give it atmosphere. But there is no reason to dwell on it too much. It lacks "substance" and it’s far from solid. (29.06.2015)

The line between happiness and damnation can be dangerously fragile. Nothing groundbreaking, but nevertheless unique in the way it presents to the viewer the theme of the total inner disintegration of a balanced personality; from the first person, in the closed world of one car, where the work and personal lines of a major life transition collide over the phone, changing the protagonist's life from hour to hour. The conversations are well-written and give ample space to portray the psychological and emotional levels of Tom Hardy, whose performance again beautifully complements the depressing narrative tone and adds an unadorned authenticity to everything. (01.02.2017)

Ausgezeichnetes Solo von Tom Hardy, der 90 Minuten lang im Auto fährt und außer ihm niemand im Film erscheint. Sein Leben bricht zusammen, seine Geliebte bringt ein Kind zur Welt, seine verlassene Ehefrau weint und erbricht sich, und dazu soll er in neun Stunden 218 Lastwagen mit so viel Beton bringen, wie für den größten Betonbau in der Geschichte Europas benötigt wird. Die Dialoge finden in aufeinander aufbauenden Telefonaten statt und sind ausgezeichnet (auf der anderen Seite sind Hardys Monologe etwas träge und nicht so interessant). Formal erinnert es ein wenig an den Film "Lebendig begraben" (der sich hingegen komplett in einem Sarg abspielt). Der Regisseur und Drehbuchautor Steven Knight konnte mit dem schwierigen Thema außerordentlich gut umgehen und ein voll funktionsfähiges und realistisches Drama auf minimalem Raum inszenieren, das die ganze Zeit über unterhält (und auch seine lustigen Momente hat). (04.07.2014)

Outside of Locke, Steven Knight was the writer and director behind the ambitious but somewhat sympathetically infantile Hummingbird, starring Jason Statham, whose central motif was once again man, his principles, ineffable cyclicality, and the surrounding world, which is the enemy. The screenplay for Locke is basically brilliant, and I'll give a nipple for the fact that it was written in the introduction that film databases of the world would call the genre a thriller, of which it has some of the parameters (the action takes place almost in real time, a protagonist removed from his environment, dealing with hostility all around), but otherwise it's a pure drama about how a basically systematic protagonist decides to take an unexpected step and pragmatically carries it out according to his principles and procedures. It's terribly easy to keep a relative distance from Locke thanks to its ambition and an ending that few will probably find satisfying, except that you sort of have to admit that this is a genuinely bold move from director Steven Knight, comparable to the central character's struggle for his perceived soul. (22.09.2014)

Tom Hardy can fully demonstrate why he is such a great actor. The camera focuses only on him the whole time, we don't see anyone else. To carry the entire film like this is an art and only a few actors can do it. Like Robert Redford, for example. Tom Hardy also belongs to them, and even though it's actually a relatively simple story and no epic things are addressed, it's still thrilling. An hour and a half of one person's life. It shows that our lives are not boring at all. (07.08.2014)