REVIEW:
Havoc is the latest action movie by Gareth Evans, but it’s also his first action movie in over a decade. Here’s the thing, Evans is the mastermind behind some of the most incredible, stylistic and brilliantly choreographed action movies ever made… the Raid and the Raid 2. But the Raid 2 was in 2014, over a decade ago (and also, it wasn’t nearly as good as the Raid.) So on the one hand it’s great to have this guy back doing what he does best (other then the John Wick movies, these are still the best action movies of the past decade, and nothing else comes close,) but on the other hand, there’s the question of where this guy has been and does he still have it.
The answer is yes. While Havoc isn’t a great movie, it is certainly pretty good, and it delivers on action. The story has B movie feel, corrupt cops in association with drug dealers, written all over it. Yes, we’ve seen this before and usually it’s a lot more subtle. In Havoc, the characters aren’t trying to hide who they are even a little bit, and it definitely feels over the top. All three leads here… Tom Hardy, Forest Whitaker, and Timothy Olyphant, are hemming it up. The dialogue is lousy. But for Tom Hardy, in particular, that’s the sandbox he’s come to like playing in over the past ten years (his Venom trilogy really cemented his footing in this genre.) And we like seeing him in it too. Hardy is a natural fit for this sort of movie, even if it isn’t too deep (one can’t forget, however, that Hardy did go toe to toe with artistic and deep performances when he made the excellent movie Locke, over ten years ago.)
The first half of Havoc doesn’t have a whole ton of action. It’s the setup half. Yes, there’s the opening cool truck – police chase through the streets, which relies heavily on computer effects, yet still looks kind of cool, but other than that, this first half is all about the characters. And considering how lightly written these characters are, there’s not a lot going on there. The second half, however, is where this thing picks up. There are two lengthy action sequences in the second half, that both go all out. One takes place in a crowded club and the other in a secluded cabin. The scenes are bloody as hell, and they both involve our lead characters being able to dodge every bullet, while never running out of ammunition themselves. That being said, these scenes are fun. Evan’s uses his camera for tracking during these action scenes, in ways like nobody else is doing. The John Wick movies are definitely better, but Havoc is still a pretty entertaining flick.