Film ● Mini-Review: Havoc
- Very Average Joe
- 4 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Title: Havoc
Director(s): Gareth Evans
Screenwriter(s): Gareth Evans
Released: 2025
Runtime: 1h 47m
● Vince (Timothy Olyphant) and three other cops chase a truck but fail. Masked gunmen then mow down some triads whilst drugs from said truck are delivered. Turns out the delivery is made by Charlie and his girlfriend, Mia, the former is the son of Mayor Lawrence Beaumont (Forest Whitaker). Detective Walker (Tom Hardy) has to clean up the mess.
● It is in essence the “corrupt cops and organized crime” premise, which is fine. What is intriguing is that it is not quite a simple case of a good cop against corrupt cops or even a formerly corrupt cop against corrupt cops. None of these cops are clean but it is unclear how “corrupt” they truly are. One does not get the sense that it is ongoing, that in the case of Walker at least it was a one-off incident.
● Up to a point, the “mystery” is nice but that approach risks pushing the narrative into nonsense territory. Even when background expositions are given, it is not clear enough.
● The plot mostly follows Walker. But it also follows the triad leader (Yeo Yann Yann), the mother of one of the triad guys killed at the start, as she carries out her revenge. Vince, however, is not in it that much until the conflict intensifies.
● Although the premise and plot are straightforward, some events are still too convenient, whether it is actual plot progression or the action itself. The film can be tightened a little.
● As expected, the violence is in-your-face with plenty of gunshot wounds and splatter. Whilst not holding back is appreciated, it goes so far as making cheesy 1980s action flicks proud: our main characters can take blade and blunt-force attacks and get back up, everyone is on infinite ammo, no reloading, spray-and-pray but miss even at close range, and criminals are stupid enough to run into fire.
● The characters are mostly templates. Walker is the “hard” cop with a past and barely speaks to his wife and young daughter. He is assigned a young and semi-idealistic uniformed cop, Eillie (Jessie Mei Li). Olyphant as Vince is his usual cunning self and Whitaker is the corrupt boss mayor. There is even the “Asian assassin chick” (Michelle Waterson-Gomez) who doesn’t say a word. It is nice to see all these actors and although there is nothing wrong with templates per se, they need more to work with.
● Some have criticized Hardy’s American accent. Despite moments of inconsistency, I didn’t find it offputting. I don’t know where each individual triad characters come from, but their Cantonese is quite inconsistent.
● The dark and gritty tone is appreciated. There are quite a few longer shots that follow the object and these are executed well. Some of the handheld and quicker cuts during action are a little messy, trying a bit too hard to be frenetic.
● In short, whilst the film is far from horrible, both the storytelling and visuals have taken its title to heart a bit too much.
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