Locke: 10 Reasons It's The Most Awesome Boring Film You'll Ever See

3. It's Relatable

Following on from the previous point, Locke's problems are unremarkable, but also familiar in nature. Ostensibly, the film is grappling with larger themes of responsibility, discipline and family values €“ as all the characters will tell you, Locke is a fearsomely reliable man who's essentially decent and will get the job done. He's the epitome of responsibility, and the film's dramatic fires are fuelled precisely because he dropped his guard for a moment while working away. What's worse is that he didn't drop his guard for anything remotely glamorous €“ just a depressing tumble after too much alcohol with an older woman he felt sorry for. He'd never cheated before, and this was a desperately pedestrian way to break his duck. It's all further establishing the main point €“ this isn't Hollywood, but nor does it have to be. There's no cocaine or hookers in Locke's transgression, just a slightly unhappy man who took leave of his senses just the once and is now being punished for it, and his plight serves to warn us about the frailty of modern life. On any other day, Ivan would've gone home to his family and watched the football with his sons and wife, German beers in hand and sausages for dinner. But this comfortable prospect has been shattered by a very human lapse in judgement, something we could all fall victim to. As his life collapses around his ears in an unflinchingly realistic manner, it's hard not to pity Locke, precisely because it could've been us. This film lives and dies on whether we can empathise with the lead character, and it's to Knight's credit that he pulls it off so deftly.