Locke!!!!

Locke.

A man, a car, a long stretch of motorway and a phone and you have pretty much the main items that make this film what it is. Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy) is a concrete expert and is driving home the day before one of Europe's biggest concrete jobs and it all rests on his shoulders to pull it off. 

Taking his work boots off and sitting in his car he locks the doors and from now on his journey home will define his future. On his journey home his whole life will change, his career, family, friends and job will all slowly slip away from him and when he arrives at his destination he will be a changed man.

The film itself for me is seriously impressive, having just one actor on screen for the whole hour and a half is a risk but Tom Hardy manages to pull it off with such ease. Hardy portrays Locke with such ease and impressively with a welsh accent to boot, you see his character go through the whole up and down emotions, he can be serene and calm one minute and bashing the steering wheel in a fit of rage the next. 

The one way in which the film stands out visually and impresses on first glances is it is set at night in total darkness with just the motorway street lights in the background. It really brings out just how lonely Ivan Locke is in the darkness, encapsulated in his own little chaotic world inside his car driving to somewhere he knows will change his life totally. With constant phone calls going back and forth between Ivan and his co-workers about the big job he has to explain to everyone his intentions and why he is doing what he is doing. Other actors make voice appearances Olivia Colman, Ruth Wilson and Tom Holland all voice different people in Ivan's life and all manage to work well and help bring out at times the best and worst of Ivan.

For a film with just one main actor on screen in the small space of a car it is seriously impressive and brings out some serious acting chops for Tom Hardy. Usually cast in big action budget films we finally get to see just the pure acting skill of Tom who again portrays Ivan with ease. The camera work is perfect for me as every angle is covered and the backdrop on a dark motorway at night just shows the reflections in the windows and how the outside world can just fly by. 

Anyone who loves nothing but a tense, at times emotional yet purely acted film then do check out Locke as it is by far Tom Hardy's greatest performance on screen to date. The film has you hooked from the start, you twist and turn and guess what happens next and when you get it wrong you think it's cleverly done which it really is. A no doubt in my mind seriously impressive film that no doubt will not get the big wide consumer audience it truly deserves.

10/10.

The Raid 2!!!!

The Raid 2.

Iko Uwais the star of the first The Raid film is back for what is the second round of fast paced martial arts impressive violence. Following on from the first film we at first see a corn field in which a shaking scared man is executed and thrown into a shallow dug grave by a mysterious man Bejo (Alex Abbad). As Rama (Iko Uwais) is taken to meet with Bunawar (Cok Simbara) the chief of Jakarta's anti-corruption task force, told that his brother has been killed by Bejo, Rama is persuaded to help bring down the corrupt police commissioner Reza (Roy Marten). 

To get inside and find out information he must infiltrate two rival gang familys, Bangun and Goto. Assaulting a son of a politician who opposed the Bangun gang he is thrown into prison. This is where the first fight sequence takes place, in the middle of a exercise courtyard that is a foot deep in thick mud a riot breaks out. Fighting off most of the prisoners he soon enough saves the life of the son of Bangun, Uco (Arfin Putra). Finally out of prison and in marched in front of Bangun (Tio Pakusadewo) he is taken in by the family and given a job to do whatever Bangun says. 

Being close to Uco he sees his frustration for the fact his father hasn't given him enough power in the family business and years for something bigger. Going behind his fathers back Uco meets with Bejo and they both work out a plan to start an all out gang war between Bangun and Goto so that Uco can prove himself to his father. 

With this war started the bloodshed comes quick and fast and really violent with assassins on both sides, Prakoso (Yayan Ruhian) works for Bangun and fights and kills to keep the city in order. Bejo has his own two assassins who we shall only name Baseball bat man and Hammer girl and you can guess what their choice of weapon is. 

The storyline of the film if you can keep up with the subtitles is quite basic but really effective and interesting at the same time. So one thing I haven't covered is the fight sequences and the violence of the film that really make it seriously impressive and exciting all the way through. Their are fights in cars, fights in a toilet cubicle, fights in a building, fights in a corridor, fights in a kitchen, fights in a massive mud filled courtyard and even a car chase to top it all off. It takes the fight sequences from the first Raid film and just triples, no quadruples it and makes it more fast and technical. 

Throw in the fact you have hammer girl and baseball bat guy and you can understand the sequences, you watch in awe but you flinch, grimmace and shout out "woahhhhh, that's insane" when you see what happens on screen. You can tell director Gareth Evans has really thought about these scenes and takes his time to get the scenes right and precise and perfect and he does it so well. 

For me this is already one of my films of the year, not many 18 films have entered the UK cinema and this one has really impressed me. The way in which the film is pieced together and how the fight scenes are brought in really bring the film together, with the right storyline of family loyalty and betrayal it works really well. For anyone who loved the first Raid film you will seriously love every minute of this film and you'll bask in its glory and smile, laugh, wince and flinch at every punch,kick, hit,shot and stab.

10/10.