Havoc

Movie Name: Havoc
Year of Release: 2025
Director: Gareth Evans
Starring: Tom Hardy, Timothy Olyphant, Forest Whitaker, Jessie Mei Li, Justin Cornwell, Quelin Sepulveda, Luis Guzman, Michelle Waterson, Sunny Pang, Jim Caesar, Xelia Mendes-Jones, Richard Harrington, Narges Rashidi
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 3
Watch it on Netflix

Synopsis and Review

"Havoc" had a long road before hitting the streaming screens in 2025 (the film was shot in 2021, and has been in post production since). It marks the first feature for Gareth Evans' since "The Apostle", which premiered in 2018. The film follows the story of Patrick Walker, a corrupt homicide detective, who gets involved in a new case mercy of a heist gone wrong. Patrick gets summoned by Lawrence Beaumont, a mayoral candidate, who informs him that his son is in trouble, since he was involved in the heist that resulted in one police officer being seriously injured and in the hospital. To make matters more complicated, the heist which aimed to capture a bunch of cocaine, upon its delivery to Tsui, the chief of the local Triad, gets gunned down by a masked gang, with Lawrence's son Charlie, and his girlfriend Mia, barely escaping. As Tsui's mother arrives in town thirsty for revenge, Patrick alongside his rookie partner Ellie, is hunting for leads as to where Charlie may be. As it turns out, Patrick's own colleagues who are also corrupt, are hot on the trail of Charlie, the same going for the Triad, and they will stop at nothing to get their revenge. 

As I was watching this film I was getting flashbacks to very different films and styles, but nonetheless they immediately popped in my mind: Michael Davis' "Shoot' Em Up" and Robert Rodriguez's "Sin City". The reasons being the over the top violence & blood gushing of the former and also the stylized aspect of the whole city and even of the choreography behind the action scenes of the latter. For all of Gareth Evans' talent and vision, is somewhat perplexing he's going back to something he has already explored in the films that brought him attention ("The Raid"), but in a way that is more simplistic, and a lot less interesting, as this time around he has barely created any characters to bring this narrative to life. Patrick and his corrupt police buddies have very little exposition or explanation as to why they have decided to become corrupt, which in itself isn't problematic, if they're given something else to do other than go around shooting people. As is, the film lives in this frame of mind where shooting a ton of people means absolutely nothing, where consequences don't really exist, and apparently neither does gravity most of the times. The film doesn't have any pretensions of being a take on corruption or an indictment on organized crime, but its borderline cartoonish violence, with plenty of exploding gore, lacks any sense of humor, which Michael Davis was so smart to bring on "Shoot' Em Up". For all its simplification, "Shoot' Em Up" understood that over the top violence at some point becomes cartoonish, and only a highly motivated villainous character can ground or bring some ethos to what is happening on screen. "Havoc" sadly has no humor, and its villains (basically everyone) demonstrate very little personality. What's left? Tom Hardy continues to be a compelling performer, even if these days his choice of material is making a disservice to his career and to what was otherwise a series of interesting performances in acclaimed films (remember "Mad Max: Fury Road" and "The Revenant"). The supporting cast is top notch, but they have very little to do, particularly Forest Whitaker and Timothy Olyphant. The production team is solid, particularly Matt Flannery's cinematography and Aria Prayogi's score. It's an unnecessary film that can't really find a strong point of view to hold on to, and these days that's problematic, when so many films don't even see the light of day (meaning, if you have the means and the opportunity, make it count, since it may be your last opportunity to do so).