Hello everyone and welcome to a brand new review! This time I’m going to be looking into an action film that released on Netflix this year, directed by prolific action director, Gareth Evans. For those who don’t know, he is very well known for taking his love of Indonesian action cinema and creating films in that space, with The Raid being the film that really put him on the map after doing smaller projects. That film was immensely acclaimed, in particular for it’s outstanding action sequences and it would go on to spawn a just as well received follow up in The Raid 2. I myself love that first film a lot as I think it is an immensely well constructed action picture with some truly jaw dropping stunts involved. His style of filmmaking is very influential as it was an early example of shooting action through long takes, something many others have gone on to attempt to varying degrees of success. So with Evans, having a new deal with Netflix, this is the first film in that deal and I was curious to see how it would turn out as I am always one for a good action film from a talented filmmaker. Was this able to deliver on that front? Let’s jump right in and see if this film lives up to its title in a good way!
The movie follows one homicide detective named Patrick Walker, a man who has an uneasy history in his profession and is an estranged husband and father. He is on the payroll of business tycoon/mayoral candidate, Lawrence Beaumont, carrying out whatever he needs. One night, Walker finds out that Lawrence’s son has gotten caught up in a drug deal gone wrong that led to the deaths of many members of the local Triad, including its leader, Tsui. Lawrence tasks Walker with finding his son who is now on the run with his friends. However, what starts out as a seemingly simple tasks becomes a heated journey through the criminal underworld that leads to multiple forces colliding in order to take care of their own businesses.
It becomes clear what Edwards’s intent is here and that is to use this story that he has set up in order to make way for the action he so clearly wants to make. That is not necessarily a criticism as there are plenty of films where the action is the priority and can be a way of telling the story (the John Wick and Mission: Impossible films come to mind). With this movie the plot gets the job done well enough. There’s some solid set up that lays out all of the different parties involved well where one understands their motivations and their connection to the main conflict with Walker serving as our navigator through all of this. I found myself interested in where things would go and I will admit that there are some genuine surprises here and there that went against the direction most movies of this type would go, as characters who I thought would’ve been fine end up… not being that and that sort of mean streak is just one of a couple of aspects that reminded me of The Raid.
The script is fairly standard, but gets the job done and I liked the moments of comedy sprinkled throughout that are funny without going against the fairly serious tone of the feature. I also can appreciate the attempt from Edwards to go for something a little bit more with how he tackles city corruption and what living in this life does to oneself, affecting their morality and general livelihood. But, aside from a handful of scenes, it isn’t really tackled in a way that made it seem more than just window dressing for what is a typical cops and robbers story that has a lot going on, that the intended pay offs at the end don’t really land as hard. There are quite a few characters that end up getting short shrift and the second half flies by so quickly that there really isn’t much time given to further develop some of them. Now to Edward’s credit, things are never boring and I think the way the film unravels more and more into chaos works to reflect the situation (and make the film’s title even more appropriate). It’s all fine, but it is clear where the most attention went too.
To be fair that attention was clearly at high capacity. Evans once again shows how skilled of an action filmmaker he is, crafting some truly insane set pieces that know no bounds in terms of the amount of violence they can showcase. The laws of reality do not come close to being followed as it can often take multiple gunshots to take someone down, the guns seemingly never run out of ammo, and people are stabbed in many different ways all resulting in a red geyser of blood. If one finds this too ludicrous and prefers realism, this likely will not do anything, but for those willing to suspend disbelief, a great time is in store. Evans stages some truly wild showdowns that as insane as they are, still manage to be coherently with plenty of long takes being utilized to show off the creative fight choreography and stunt work on display. Even when there are multiple parties involved, he’s able to shot and edit them in a way where it is never unclear who is involved in the fighting or what is going on, which is impressive for a film of this nature. The use of environments is very fun as we see plenty of folks taken out in unexpected ways and Evans knows very well how to build up to some very sweet pay offs that are as gnarly as one would hope.
Visually most of these scenes are cool with Mike Flattery’s cinematography doing a nice job in capturing the vibe of any given location such as the vibrancy of the night club or the snowy isolation of a cabin in the woods (in general I dug the cold winter vibe that is being gone for here). Stand out part for me would have to be the night club sequence which is such an incredible display of the film’s best qualities and is where things start to ramp up heavily in a way that made me more invested. I will admit that there is a noticeable difference in how the exterior shots are mostly done in CGI, while shots where we see the characters and/or interior parts are done practically as the immersion is sullied a little bit. This is especially evident during a 1st act car chase which is very fun, but also is the one beat that is heavily reliant on CGI that is rather noticeable. It just gives the vibe of something made for streaming when the rest of the film feels honestly theater worthy, more so than most Netflix attempts at would be blockbusters.
I feel if your going to do a rough and tumble action flick like this, getting Tom Hardy as the lead is a smart play as this is the kind of role he does very well in. Walker himself isn’t what I’d call the most uniquely written character as he is filled with familiar tropes (cop who has regrets, is estranged from his family, goes against orders, etc.), but Hardy is able to make him into a decent focal point as someone whose tough exterior covers over someone with deep regret over their actions. Hardy plays both sides nicely and clearly has the physicality to pull off the action. He also has his funny moments with a couple of wise cracks that never feels out of place with the more serious angle of Walker. I also quite enjoyed the dynamic he had with his rookie partner, Ellie (played solidly by Jessie Mei Li), who is way more by the book and thrusted into something that is more than a little beyond her pay grade (though she certainly fights like she’s been at this forever). While not exactly “friends” she is presented as the kind of cop that Walker wishes he was and trusts her more than anyone else, a trust that is the most successful the flick ever gets at forming some sort of emotional connection.
The cast as a whole is stacked which is a bit of a double edged sword. On one hand, we get some expectedly good performances that elevates the material, but on the other quite a few of them end up feeling underserved. The thieves who start this whole mess feel especially like an afterthought despite their importance to the plot and good work from Justin Cornwell and Quelin Sepulveda among others as they convey the desperation of their situation well. There really aren’t a whole lot of meaningful interactions between them and the other players, which does hurt the movie in its attempts to craft some sort of emotional foundation to care about. Timothy Olyphant provides the appropriate menace to Walker’s former corrupt Narcotic squad mate, Vincent, and there are hints of a more complicated individual that ultimately aren’t sidelined as the film goes on. Also thought Sonny Pang did a good job as Ching, a disgruntled Triad lieutenant, whose jealousy of Tsui, whose calm demeanor slowly unravels as the film goes on and whose arc touches on the dangers of jealousy when someone yearns for power. Forest Whitaker (who plays Lawrence) and Yeo Yann Yann (who plays Tsui’s mother) both bring solid gravitas to their roles as two parents who are now faced with reckoning with what has transpired with their children and the best character beat is them just having a heart to heart about the situation. Oh, and Luis Guzman pops up for a brief role as Mia’s uncle, Raul, and I can never complain when someone as fun and likable as him shows up in a movie.
In the end, I found Havoc to be a fun action flick that shows how skilled Evans is a director while also not being as great as it could’ve been. The script isn’t anything too special, the film tries to do a bit too much that leads to some aspects not being fully developed, some of the CGI doesn’t mesh well with the live action stuff, and some characters could’ve been fleshed out more. However, the story is still engaging, there are some subversion of expectations, the action is brutal and spectacular, Tom Hardy makes for a good lead, and the performances are solid all around. If you love Evans’s work and are a full on action junkie looking for some impressive fights, then this will more than get the job done as it succeeds greatly in that regard. If one is looking for something more to go with that, I don’t know if this will do much. For me it is nowhere near the quality of The Raid, but it is still a solid film that had me entertained and went by quickly. Evans is clearly talented and it is interesting seeing both what he excels at, but also where he could improve. As it stands I’m still curious to see what he will do next and at this film’s best, it reminds of a good old fashioned film from the 80/90s that just comes in and gets the job done, which has value in and of itself.
Rating: B
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