4. Locke
Tom Hardy drew raves for his performance in Locke, a gripping one-man show written and directed by Eastern Promises‘ Steven Knight. The Bronson actor stars as Ivan Locke, a successful and married construction site director who learns that a woman he had a one night stand with months earlier has gone into premature labor. As he races from Birmingham to London to be by her side, the phone calls he has to make shatter his marriage and throw his career in a tailspin. Locke’s once-secure life flies out of his control as he struggles to make the moral decision and remain true to the man he believes he is.
Hardy is absolutely electric here, holding the screen in what may be the finest performance of his impressive career. As our reviewer Jordan Adler wrote in his four-star review, Hardy gives a truly “tour de force performance.” The actor is completely mesmerizing, his emotive features and deep voice doing wonders to communicate Locke’s tumultuous mental state.
Any Oscar attention for Locke would likely come in the form of a Best Actor nomination for Hardy. Now, the film’s April release may put it completely out of the minds of Academy members by the time voting opens, but Hardy’s performance is truly something special, and it may just be able to stand the test of time and earn the actor a well-deserved nomination. Hardy’s chances are probably helped by his robust body of work – this is an actor who is universally respected, and who has likely been known to voters since Bronson.
For more on this brilliant film, check out our interview with Hardy and Knight below:
