TRASH IN MY EYE No. 25 of 2025 (No. 2031) by Leroy Douresseaux
Havoc (2025)
Running time: 107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)
Rated: TV-MA
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Gareth Evans
PRODUCERS: Gareth Evans, Tom Hardy, Ed Talfan, and Aram Tertzakian
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Matt Flannery (D.o.P.)
COMPOSER: Aria Prayogi
EDITORS: Sara Jones and Matt Platts-Mills
CRIME/ACTION/THRILLER
Starring: Tom Hardy, Jessie Mei Li, Justin Cornwell, Quelin Sepulveda, Richard Harrington, Serhat Metin, Gordon Alexander, John Cummins, Jeremy Ang Jones, Yann Yann Yeo, Michelle Waterson, Narges Rashidi, Astrid Fox-Sahan, Luis Guzman, and Timothy Olyphant and Forest Whitaker
SUMMARY OF REVIEW:
-- Havoc is a violent action movie with so much gun play that it would be okay to mistake it for something like a first-person shooter video game
-- Havoc seems like a video game that wants to be a movie, and as a movie it will entertain people who enjoy violent crime movies and action films
-- Otherwise, Havoc is an average film
Havoc is a 2025 crime and action-thriller film from writer-director Gareth Evans. The film is a co-production between the U.S. and the U.K. The film is a “Netflix Original” and began streaming on the service April 25, 2025. Havoc focuses on a beat-up detective who must rescue a politician's estranged son, after the son is implicated in the violent modern of young drug lord.
Havoc introduces Patrick Walker (Tom Hardy), a homicide detective who is estranged from his wife, Helena (Narges Rashidi), and daughter, Emily (Astrid Fox-Sahan). Walker is also on the payroll of the powerful real estate magnate and mayoral candidate, Lawrence Beaumont (Forest Whitaker). Beaumont's son, Charlie (Justin Cornwell), is implicated in the murder of Tsui (Jeremy Ang Jones), a young drug lord. Tsui's mother, Clarice Fong (Yann Yann Yeo), arrives in the city and demands that her legion of henchman find Charlie.
Knowing that Walker is compromised because he has been on the take from him, Beaumont demands that Walker find Charlie before he is killed. After insisting that this is the last job he will to do for Beaumont, Walker sets about searching for Charlie and his girlfriend, Mia (Quelin Sepulveda), who are on the run. However, the killing of Tsui is complicated and involves people who know how dirty Walker is because they have joined him in some of his dirtiest deeds.
I am a fan of director Gareth Evan's 2011 Indonesian crime-thriller, The Raid, which was released in the U.S. under the title, The Raid: Redemption. After that, I had not watched another of Evans films until Havoc, and I don't have a lot to say about it.
The cast is quite good. They are mostly people I don't know, but they deliver good performances. I am a fan of the film's star Tom Hardy and of Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland, 2006). They also deliver good performances...
...But Havoc plays like a violent action-adventure video game that is transitioning into a violent crime and action film. In fact, the car chase scenes in this film look like game animation. The film's screenplay has back story and character drama, but ultimately Gareth Evans makes the drama and story take a backseat to the violent action. The violent gun play results in gory gunshot wounds, and every shooting victim is shot way more times than it should take to kill them.
Havoc looks like a first-person shooter video game, and it might make a good one at that. As a movie, it is average entertainment. Havoc won't be memorable, but it will help viewers pass the time.
5 of 10
C+
★★½ out of 4 stars
Friday, June 6, 2025
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