Havoc

Whenever i am in a discussion with a movie fan about martial art action films i always recommend a couple of films that you need to see. Films that may not hit cinemas worldwide but become popular on physical media instead. For example you have to see the film Ninja - Shadow Of A Tear with action star Scott Adkins, the sequel to his 2009 action classic Ninja ( also worth watching ). What made Ninja - Shadow Of A Tear such a worthy pick is because of the fighting scenes, they are not only really well made but you can almost feel the kicks and the punches. In my opinion this is one of the best Scott Adkins film so far. I would also recommend the 2019 martial arts action film Triple Threat with an incredible cast such as Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, Tiger Chen, Scott Adkins, Michael Jai White, Michael Bisping and Celina Jade. There are plenty of cool fighting scenes in this film and action scenes looks good as well. Since i mentioned Iko Uwais recently he have done two of the best martial art action films in the last 20 years with the Indonesian films The Raid and The Raid 2. Luckily both of The Raid films did get a cinema release and i can happily say these are two of my personal favourite martial art action films in many years. I can promise you that you will not find many martial arts action films more violent than The Raid and The Raid 2, they are on a completely different level than most martial art action films with some extremely hard hitting scenes. If you have not seen these films buy them on digital or physical media ( unless you rent them on VOD ), they are definetely worth being a part of your movie collection if you love physical media. The director of The Raid movies Gareth Evans ( who also directed the very well made Netflix gothic horror film Apostle, a must see ) have been working on an action film called Havoc with actor Tom Hardy. The film was finished back in October of 2021, but the studio decided that the film needed reshoots, which were delayed until July 2024 due to scheduling conflicts and the SAG-AFTRA strike. Considering that i am a fan of director Gareth Evans and actor Tom Hardy is it possible that Havoc is better than i expected or is this film a disaster from start to finish?

A gang of thieves, consisting Charlie ( Justin Cornwell ), Mia ( Quelin Sepulveda ) and two other members, steal a batch of washing machines that contains a hidden shipment of cocaine. They are pursued by a group of narcotics squad detectives, where one of them Cortez ( Serhat Metin  ) is badly wounded during the chase and hospitalized. Later that night, Charlie and Mia take the stolen cocaine to Tsui ( Jeremy Ang Jones ), the head of the local Triad. While they are still there, a gang of masked people storm inside and kill everyone they can including Tsui, while Charlie and Mia manage to escape. Homocide Detective Patrick Walker ( Tom Hardy ) finds out that Charlie and Mia are witnesses to the shootout and need their testimony. But things are about to become even more complicated when Tsui´s Mother ( Yeo Yann Yann ) demands revenge on her son´s death.

The easiest way to describe a film such as Havoc is to say that this is like the police version of the 2020 Netflix action film Extraction with Chris Hemsworth. Plenty of action scenes and of course slim looking gun shooting battles. This is a very basic film that knows exactly what audience it was made for and does not take many chances at all. The plot is very simple, the characters we have seen in plenty of police action films in the past and the acting is not anything out of the ordinary. What makes this film work is that it´s effective as a throwback to the 80´s films ( i was reminded of the 1989 classic Black Rain with Michael Douglas ) thanks to really violent and good looking action scenes from director Gareth Evans. For example the city night scenes looks beautiful with bright colors while we get to experience a very violent street life, it all matches well considering the underground world of drug dealers. Main actor Tom Hardy is known for delivering good performances in the past, while he may not be as effective in the Venom films. I think he finds his place here in Havoc as the character Walker, a man who have experienced a rough life and know how to deal with criminals. I would´t go as far and say his acting performance is solid, i would say it works for his character since it´s not a complicated one. Legendary actor Forest Whitaker have no problem delivering dialogue in his own unique way while actress Yeo Yann Yaan´s character "Mother" is the most fascinating character of Havoc. I think it´s fair to say that Havoc doesn´t care about what is trending on TikTok, this is a film that wants to stay old school to the generation of VHS videostore violence. Anything negative about Havoc? If you are expecting something similar to the martial arts The Raid franchise then this may not be what you are looking for. If you just want guns, violence and appreciate a simple plot then Havoc will propably save your Netlix movie night. Havoc proves that the action genre is still alive and doing well.

Rating: DDD