Havoc (2025)

Havoc is a 2005 drama starring Anne Hathaway as an aimless rich teenager...

Nah, I'm just fucking with ya! For once I am reviewing a new movie that other people are actually watching/talking about. As a super-fan of The Raid and its sequel, I have been anticipating director Gareth Evans' new action joint since it was announced four years(!) ago. Apparently after principal photography wrapped in 2021, it took years to get necessary re-shoots thanks to the SAG strike and scheduling issues. Now Havoc (2025 edition) has finally arrived on Netflix!

It follows various factions of cops and criminals clashing after a drug deal gone wrong. Following a moody prologue featuring Tom Hardy’s dirty cop protagonist, we go right into a thrilling car chase. The first camera move swooping past the cop cars and speeding semi-truck immediately gave me the “oh shit, buckle up” feeling that only some action directors can pull off. Things are already out of control, with someone hanging off the swinging semi-container’s doors as the truck bounces off of other cars, climaxing with a weaponized washing machine.

This is pretty much how the movie will work throughout, with us being introduced to characters already at the end of their ropes or at the tail end of a series of bad decisions. In a lot of ways I felt like I was watching the season finale to a show after skipping all the set up. This has advantages and disadvantages. In terms of speed and purity of storytelling, we hit the ground running and never let up. There is a long pause in action scenes between the opening truck chase and the final act, but characters are already on the run, injured, or in desperate circumstances, so the tension remains high. We don’t have extraneous characters or subplots that would pad out a show. On the other hand, we don’t really have much time to establish characterization for anyone other than Tom Hardy, who gets the most brief and basic “bad-dad/bad-cop” intro. Some relationships are explained in a sentence or two. It definitely leans on Hardy, Timothy Olyphant, and Forest Whitaker being able to instantly establish a vibe and character with the audience. I don’t know that it would be improved by deeper characters or conversations, but it does put a limit on how much you can invest in the movie beyond being a vehicle for carnage. And because that carnage is mostly relegated to the last act, you might have more time to think about these things while the knotty plot plays out.

The whole movie feels like a heightened pulp world of crime and violence, not quite the full cartoon of Sin City but definitely as over the top as a lot of Hong Kong crime action movies. Colorful but thin characters double and triple-crossing each other, almost everyone a criminal or cop, and all of them killers. Even the young couple who seemed to be the most traditionally good/innocent characters end up getting into the action (shoutout to Quelin Sepulveda as Mia going HAM out of nowhere). This definitely has the nasty streak of classic HK action, with plenty of bloody civilian casualties and literally dozens of bodies piling up in the final action scene. It is also similar to a lot of HK movies structurally, with an opening action scene followed by an hour of plot until the last act turns into two extended action sequences. When shit finally popped off in the club, I said “Welcome back, The Raid’s Gareth Evans!” Then the final scene in the cabin felt like the climax of L.A. Confidential multiplied by John Woo. Those two sequences definitely live up to the title (I especially loved the chaotic moment where all the characters have to flee BACK into the club shootout they just escaped).

I have no idea what Evans’ is using in terms of cameras and computers, but the combination of grain, weather effects and I assume digitally manipulated city backgrounds blend well together with the actors and onscreen action. It's not that everything suddenly looks real, it's more that everything has the same slightly unreal quality so the digital manipulations (blood, gunfire, etc.) don’t stand out from the actual actors and sets. I am sure some people won’t like the look of this movie, but for me Evans’ hit a sweet spot where even though my brain knew trickery was involved, it couldn’t pick it apart in the moment. 

oh, hello!

I am sure my wife and I weren’t the only ones to immediately notice the henchwoman/assassin with the cool hair. I love a character that looks like they walked out of a beat’em up game, and I would totally pick her on the character select screen. She is played by MMA fighter Michelle Waterston-Gomez, and now I will be looking for the low-budget actioner Crossed Lines (zero reviews on Letterboxd!), which seems to be her only significant role (other than a documentary about her called Fight Mom). Also, I wonder if Luiz Guzman insisted he get to shoot somebody if he was going to have to run on camera and get made fun of for it, lol.

I knew this wasn’t going to be another The Raid, and I tried not to let the years of anticipation get my hype too high. I don’t think this is a new action classic, but it is definitely a strong modern entry for the genre. The thin/pulpy characters and twisty but empty plot might not be enough for normies. And the total amount of on-screen action might leave some of my fellow action-sickos wanting. But I enjoyed the ride, and there were moments I loved even if the movie as a whole didn’t blow me away.