It sure feels like an eternity waiting for Havoc to arrive on Netflix after the movie originally wrapped filming in 2021. Besides, this is the long-awaited return for Gareth Evans in the action-movie territory – his first since The Raid 2, one of the best action thrillers ever made over the last decade. Post-The Raid 2, he served as a co-showrunner alongside frequent cinematographer Matt Flannery in TV’s Gangs of London and directed his first Netflix film in the violent folk horror Apostle.
Now, with Havoc, Evans shows the world how it is done when comes to executing bruising action set pieces in both gunfights and hand-to-hand combats. Some may find Evans’ penchant for excessive violence overly exploitative and unbearable to watch. And yet, it’s hard to deny he has a knack for bringing his trademark action mayhem with a heightened sense of tactility. Every punch, kick and bullet hitting or piercing through the bodies is all viscerally felt and this is where Havoc delivers in spades.
But let’s get to the story, where Evans is also in charge of the screenplay. It’s all familiar stuff typically seen in the hardboiled action-crime thriller: Tom Hardy plays Walker, a world-weary cop working for narcotics who has seen enough. He has a murky past that still haunted him as we get to see moments of flashbacks every now and then. His fellow colleagues include Vincent (Timothy Olyphant) and so does Lawrence Beaumont (Forest Whitaker), a shady mogul currently running for mayor. When his estranged son Charlie (Justin Cornwell) goes missing after being involved in a botched coke deal, which resulted in the death of a Chinese drug dealer Tsui (Jeremy Ang Jones), Beaumont wants Walker to find him. Walker sets out to locate his whereabouts, beginning by tracking down someone who knows Charlie including his girlfriend Mia (Quelin Sepulveda).
Complicating matters is the arrival of Tsui’s mother (Yeo Yann Yann) with her assassins seeking vengeance for the brutal murder of her son. Evans keeps things streamlined in his latest action thriller, which makes me feel like I’m streaming a condensed version of Gangs of London minus the intricate storytelling. This may come across as a disappointment, particularly for those who are looking for Evans to return to the all-encompassing epic narrative seen in The Raid 2.
But at the same time, it’s a treat for action fans who prefer their movies less dense and more straightforward. This is where Havoc excels the most. It’s amazing how Evans manages to cram familiar themes of corruption, betrayal, double-crosses, and redemption in less than two hours while maintaining enough clarity about what’s going on throughout the movie. He doesn’t even get heavy with the flashback sequences.
Despite taking him around 50 minutes or so to build up his story, the story still moves at an assured pace with Evans getting up to speed by quickly establishing the trouble that Charlie and Mia caused and how it triggers a chain reaction. Once Walker is actively on the case, the story just keeps progressing and by the time it reaches halfway, Evans begins to unleash his signature frenetic mayhem like nobody’s business. The extended nightclub scene is one of the highlights of Havoc as we see Walker engage in a massive gunfight with numerous threats coming in every direction.
Evans, a die-hard fan of old-school Hong Kong action movies, specifically the ones during the golden era, doesn’t hold back when it comes to graphic violence and gore. We see bullets riddled all over the bodies and even with the over-reliance of CGI blood, there’s a sense of visceral flair that makes you feel like you are part of the carnage. Bad guys also get whacked, bashed, and stabbed and here, Evans has no problem fulfilling the action fans’ fantasy of watching how the assailants die in the utmost brutal fashion. He continues to ratchet up the stakes in the third act, giving us everything from the flying bodies caused by the sheer impact of a shotgun to getting plunged with a knife and at one point, a harpoon penetrating directly through a person’s neck.
Casting Tom Hardy is a nice touch since he is no stranger to playing physically demanding performances. Besides, Hardy is born to play the kind of a surly and cynical tough-guy role but he’s not all about shooting bad guys and engaging in fistfights. He’s far from a hero but more of a conflicted cop who had enough and wants to redeem himself. He is equally good when it comes to nailing the guilt-ridden expression while pairing well with Jessie Mei Li, who plays his rookie partner Ellie. Although their team-up isn’t significant, Evans still manages to establish a mentor-protégé relationship that contrasts well between Walker’s world-weary persona and Ellie’s callowness.
The rest of the cast including Forest Whitaker, Timothy Olyphant and Yeo Yann Yann deliver solid support. Likewise, Matt Flannery serves as the cinematographer and his atmospheric lensing does a good job capturing the seedy underbelly of an American city even if it’s an unnamed, fictional one. The CGI tends to be distracting in some places, notably the earlier opening chase sequence that feels like it’s straight out of a video game.
Although Havoc doesn’t reach both creative and dramatic heights of The Raid 2, which remains the director’s best movie to date, this straight-to-Netflix action thriller remains an above-average effort.
