Havoc Movie Review: Tom Hardy stumbles in style-heavy, story-light action thriller

Havoc review

Tom Hardy seems to be undergoing a mid-career crisis — nothing else can explain signing up for a film like ‘Havoc’ after the anti-hero franchise films of ‘Venom’ or the tepid but author-backed character in the series ‘MobLand.’ This machine-led, gunfire-lit, excessively violent blood fest is an exhausting shoot-’em-up without a story or characters that remain in memory for a minute after its conclusion.

Gareth Evans’ trademark action, minus the emotional core

Gareth Evans is known for adapting Indonesian martial arts into consumable action films with ‘The Raid’ series. This time around, he tackles an action-drama where the drama and emotional beats are mostly underwritten—or perhaps entirely absent. The film opens with a cops-and-truck chase to nab a truckload of stolen washing machines stuffed with cocaine and attempts a visual gimmick involving perilous swinging doors and off-balance thieves. Unfortunately, the comic-book-like treatment of the scene renders it unconvincing and low impact, despite the chaos and death on display. While the film leans on organised crime for context, it is scattered and inadequate in establishing the who, what, and why of the criminal network.

A convoluted plot dressed in blood and flashbacks

True to its title, ‘Havoc’ is a journey into destruction, confusion, and mayhem with Walker (Tom Hardy), a stereotypical bad cop grappling with his conscience through wafer-thin, underdeveloped flashbacks about past misdeeds. As he buys a last-minute Christmas gift at a grimy convenience store in the fictional city where the film is set, a bloody gun attack by a Triad drug lord sets the police in motion. The events unfold over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day—a timeline that feels implausible given the volume of carnage. Walker’s mission is to save the son of a mayoral candidate (Forest Whitaker), who’s caught on CCTV at a homicide scene. This is tangled with flashbacks involving dirty cops, an injured friend, and a Triad boss seeking revenge for her son’s death. Into this chaos enter Charlie (Jonathan Cornwell) and his spunky girlfriend Mia (Quelin Sepulveda), with Walker’s rookie partner popping up at crucial moments for support.

Stylized violence that fails to engage

Bloody shootouts, Asian criminals running roughshod over a Gotham-like, grimy city, and endless chases exhaust the viewer from the outset. There’s little to anchor Walker’s grumpiness or his relentless pursuit of Charlie. But for those who stick around, the 50-minute mark brings a standout action sequence in a shadowy nightclub — a three-way battle between corrupt cops, the Triad’s seemingly endless army, and Walker, armed with everything from shotguns to metal pipes. Gesaffelstein’s Aleph blares in the background, its industrial beat syncing with the chaos on screen. Aria Prayogi’s dark score adds some texture, but the action remains chaotic and, at times, disjointed. The film culminates in an exhausting, seemingly endless bloodbath that ends just as expected.

Star power can’t save a soulless script

As far as shoot-’em-up action films go, cheeky dialogue and strong characters have usually made for more engaging viewing. But in the case of ‘Havoc,’ there's none of that. While Hardy, Whitaker, and Timothy Olyphant (as a supremely bad cop) do their best to carry the drama, the film is desperately in need of a coherent script and emotional resonance to become worth watching.

Cast: Tom Hardy, Forest Whitaker, Timothy Olyphant, Yeo Yann Yann, Jessie Mei Li

Director: Gareth Evans

Rating: 2.5/5

(‘Havoc’ is streaming on Netflix)