Introduction

As much as I love movies filled with mysteries, thought-provoking sci-fi tales, and romance flicks, I am never against a good high-octane action movie. There’s something just fun about guns blazing and punches flying that makes it easy to turn your brain off and just get lost in the movements. That’s why I love movies like The Raid by Gareth Evans, it didn’t have a great story or much substance but it had wonderfully choreographed shootouts and ridiculous but eye-popping martial arts moments. When I heard Evans was doing another movie with Tom Hardy (Venom, Inception, and The Drop) I was sold, immediately. Havoc, which was released on Netflix on April 25, 2025, is said movie but does Evans do another great job like The Raid or is this a movie not worth a second of your time? We find out in my review of Havoc!

Story

Forgive me for saying Havoc’s story can be seen in almost 80 other crime-themed flicks. Patrick Walker (Tom Hardy) is a Homicide Detective who ends up reliving his dark past when an incident in his city occurs. A simple job turns deadly when a bunch of no-notice criminals end up taking the fall for a hit on the Triad. Walker soon discovers one of the criminals who is now a target is Charlie (Justin Cornwell) who just so happens to be the son of mayoral candidate Lawrence Beaumont (Forest Whitaker) and aligned with Walker for some rather shady dealings. Walker ends up involving his temporary partner (played by Jessie Mei Li) and soon realizes that words aren’t going to solve this dilemma only guns.

I’d be lying if I didn’t say Havoc is ridiculous in its story. Don’t get me wrong, it works for what it offers but in the first five minutes, I knew who was dirty and who was good. Havoc’s story is very cliché but I don’t think Evans was looking for a breakthrough story here, it helps keep the focus on the action and less on trying to determine what is occurring. Every time something was revealed I knew it was going to happen before it did and when the credits rolled my eyes with it. Havoc isn’t going to be remembered for the plot or story but that’s okay it does its job and keeps the viewers from getting distracted from what matters, the action.

Acting and Cast

Let me begin by saying this, Havoc has an impressive list of actors and some talented newcomers. Aside from Tom Hardy, we have Forest Whitaker (Black Panther, Repo Men) and Timothy Olyphant (Gone in 60 Seconds, Once Upon a Time In Hollywood ) plus, some new upcoming talents like Jessie Mei Li and Justin Cornwell. Unfortunately, their talents weren’t put to much use in Havoc. Most of the time Havoc focuses on Hardy and when the others pop up their acting is barely used for more than a few moments. I don’t think Havoc has bad actors or actresses I believe the story doesn’t deem their involvement much. I feel you could have had only one stellar actor in Havoc and a bunch of newcomers and gotten the same results. Again, great actors and actresses but their talent is underutilized in this movie.

Cinematography and Direction

Finally, I can say where Evans did his magic, the cinematography and direction. Havoc takes what made The Raid so excellent and amps it up to even higher levels. Guns are often blasting out bullets like these characters have a cheat code and people are dropping In droves. Tom Hardy even gets to unleash some rather surprising martial arts moves like literally sliding into a man to knock him out! Havoc is a rush to watch when the guns get close to the camera and unleash their clips into their targets. The car sequence (which is how the movie begins) was fun but it pales compared to later moments. I wished there were more martial arts moments though but I get it, this is a gun-themed action movie, not the next John Wick. Those who get motion sickness easily though may want to prepare before watching Havoc, there are a lot of shaking camera moments and some unsettling camera work.

Conclusion

Havoc lacks a strong story, interesting characters, and only several good actors, and is absurd on so many levels yet I couldn’t smile while watching. Evans shows he has the talent to make incredible action sequences but I do wish his tales had a bit more to them in terms of substance. For an almost 2 hour movie though, Havoc was straight-up fun and the adrenaline-inducing sequences made up for everything it lacked. Add to that Tom Hardy doing a great job with his simple role and you have a decent movie for those who need their action fix of the month.

ーAaron