Havoc Review: Gareth Evans’ Long-Awaited Return to the Action Thriller Genre is a Visceral Gun-Toting Mayhem

What a Havoc of a movie — a fitting title for Gareth Evans’ long-delayed and not to mention long-awaited action thriller, given his signature no-holds-barred direction, notably in The Raid, The Raid 2 and TV’s Gangs of London. As the title suggests, fans and viewers can expect plenty of blood-soaked and bullet-riddled mayhem as Evans pulls all the stops to pump up the action scenes.

He also wrote the screenplay, which follows Walker (Tom Hardy), a veteran narcotics officer in the unnamed city full of corruption. The city itself resembled a U.S. metropolis, and the first thing that came to mind was Detroit, but for trivia’s sake, it was shot in Cardiff and Wales. The corruption spreads like a viral disease across the narcotics division led by Vincent (Timothy Olyphant). Not to forget, the real estate mogul Lawrence Beaumont (Forest Whitaker), who is running for mayor, vowing to clean up the city.

We also learn about Walker’s dark past through a series of flashbacks. His personal life isn’t any better, so Evans sees fit to include not one but two estranged loved ones, which in this case, Walker’s wife, Helena (Narges Rashidi) and their little daughter. So, when Beaumont’s son Charlie (Justin Cornwell) is missing, Walker is tasked to find him. Not that he has a choice since Beaumont knows about his past, which has something to do with a cover-up. And that means if Walker manages to locate his son and bring him back alive, he will no longer be indebted to Beaumont.

A story like this won’t be complete without levelling up the stakes. This can be seen in Charlie and his debt-ridden girlfriend Mia (Quelin Sepulveda) making things worse after causing the death of a local Chinese triad leader, Tsui (Jeremy Ang Jones), following a truck delivery full of drugs stored in the washing machines. Tsui’s death triggers his mother (a no-nonsense Yeo Yann Yann) to fly over to the city with her team of assassins to seek revenge.

Havoc doesn’t have the sprawling narrative that made The Raid 2 such an epic crime saga, since Evans is more interested in keeping it trim and straight to the point. In other words, his latest movie is more into the pacey first Raid style minus the gritty pencak silat showcase. With Tom Hardy leading the role, Evans revisited his Gangs of London vibe, albeit in a streamlined manner.

Right from the start, he doesn’t waste time getting down to business with an opening nighttime vehicular pursuit, even though I can’t help but see that the whole chase looks like it was strangely computer-generated, like a video game cutscene. This also extends to the overall city setting, as Evans’ decision to make the place fictional results in a curiously CGI-heavy background that looks glaringly artificial. It was as if Evans was trying to pull off his own big-screen version of the Max Payne video game.

A few shortcomings aside, Havoc remains compulsively watchable, thanks to Evans’ muscular direction. He knows how to build up his story without getting deep into the expository-heavy scenario. Just what-you-need-to-know basis, and it doesn’t take long before he fulfils what the genre fans are here for: the action scenes. Halfway through the movie, it’s all hell breaks loose, beginning with the elaborate nightclub scene with lots of shootouts and bloodshed.

Evans’ typically dynamic, handheld camerawork is as frenetic as usual as we see how the bad guys are brutally gunned down in a hail of bullets or at some point, getting bashed by an iron rod and other forms of death, from stabbing to slicing. CGI-heavy blood spurting like it’s a free-flow carnage, and dead bodies keep piling up just for the nightclub scene alone. It’s undeniably chaotic, and it gets better from here, leading to the more action-packed moments in the climactic third act.

Evans also deserves credit for assembling the right persons for the roles, namely Tom Hardy, who is perfectly typecast as the gruff and guilt-ridden cop trying to make things right due to his past sins. Forest Whitaker, Timothy Olyphant and Sunny Pang, where the latter plays Tsui’s top lieutenant, all do their respective good jobs playing shady characters.

Havoc is currently streaming on Netflix.