It’s safe to say that Tom Hardy has starred in some gigantic movies and shows. These include superhero capers, like the Venom trilogy and Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, the sensation that is Peaky Blinders, arguably the best action movie of the 21st century, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant, and so many more. Tom Hardy always delivers a solid performance – even when the actual script is sub-par (see Capone). But, Hardy actually gave one of his best performances in an incredibly subtle, and subdued thriller, which is a far cry from his usual movies. That unforgettable film is about to stream for free.
Directed by Peaky Blinders creator and screenwriter for the next James Bond movie, Steven Knight, 2013’s Locke is undoubtedly Tom Hardy’s most unique movie to date, and also one of his best. The entire film managed to turn a boring concept, an entire movie with only one character on screen set inside a car into an incredibly tense, thrilling, and moving film, thanks in large part to Hardy’s performance. After leaving work at a construction site, Tom Hardy’s Ivan Locke travels to meet his pregnant wife at hospital as she is about to give birth. However, his entire life unravels before him on the journey.
Locke was added to Tubi, the free streaming platform, at the start of May 2026. After just a month on the free streaming platform, Locke has already driven onto Tubi’s “Leaving Soon” page. The free streamer doesn’t give precise dates as to when films wil lbe removed from its library. However, Tubi typically opperates on one-month contracts. So, expect Locke to leave free streaming at the start of June.
‘Locke’ Secretly has a Fantastic Cast
Tom Hardy should be given all the flowers for his performance in Locke. But, while he’s the only actor to appear on screen, he’s not the only A-lister in the film… far from it. Ivan interacts with the various people in his life through phone calls, and those characters are voiced by some fantastic actors.
Ruth Wilson (Luther) voices Ivan’s pregnant wife, Katrina, who is the closest thing the movie has to a supporting character. Locke also stars Spider-Man, himself, Tom Holland, British national treasure, Olivia Colman and Fleabag‘s Andrew Scott. That’s one hell of a cast to have none of them actually appear on-screen.
‘Locke’ Perfected the Single-Scene Formula
Just like shooting an entire movie in one take, having a film take place in a single scene is considered to be a gimmick by many. The thing about those techniques is that they absolutely are gimmicks, unless they’re well executed. Like 1917 did for the one-take movie, Locke is arguably the best film to take place in a single scene. Steven Knight had to get a lot of small details right to pull this off. The rise in tension had to be methodically calculated, the interactions had to be exciting enough on their own to keep us hooked, and the cinematography and camera work had to find creative ways to make a rundown car look visually interesting. But, most importantly, Locke doesn’t overstay its welcome. The film runs for a relatively short 85 minutes. Any longer, and audiences probably would have been as sick of seeing that car as Ivan Locke was.
