Directed By Gareth Evans

Starring – Tom Hardy, Jessie Mei Li, Justin Cornwell

The Plot – The story is set after a drug deal gone wrong, when a bruised detective (Hardy) must fight his way through a criminal underworld to rescue a politician’s estranged son, while unraveling a deep web of corruption and conspiracy that ensnares his entire city.

Rated TV-MA for sequences of brutal devastation involving violence and gore, drug use, and adult language

HAVOC | Official Trailer | Netflix

POSITIVES

Coming off of the career-changing successes of what are considered among the greatest action movies of all-time, in “The Raid: Redemption” and “The Raid 2”, expectations are high that lightning could strike three times for Evans in another action juggernaut, and while “Havoc” comes nowhere close to the level of quality that those predecessors mastered breathlessly, it is still a rip-roaring, bullet-soaring, good time that maximized adrenaline in an engagement far too good to be under the Netflix banner of recent action flick offerings. Most remarkably once more are the captivating action sequences pertaining to on-the-ground combat and gunfire battles that effortlessly breed an immersive intensity so detailed and documented that you could practically feel the velocity of whizzing bullets in ways that bare a close proximity. Like his previous action efforts, Evans and cinematographer Matt Flannery opt for shaky-cam consistencies that rumble the ground and contort camera clarities each time the impact is felt from emphasizing sound designs of the highest quality, and while it helps towards outlining the danger and tension factors of the unpredictable environments depicted, its grandest appeal is in never sacrificing the overhanging stakes of any physical conflict, instead making any meaningful character feel enveloped by the air of uncertainty that never withers throughout the film’s 100-minute runtime. Beyond the action, Evans’ environmental directional seamlessly lends itself towards vividly fleshing out the crime and corruption within this rain-soaked setting, with subtle color correction and claustrophobic framing that really make the imagery feel every bit as gritty and weathered as the undefined city itself. Similar to how 90’s directors like David Fincher articulated the influence of a city towards feeling like a character of its own within the movie, so too does Evans here, articulating a place of corrupt cops, mayoral schemes, and triad-run politics, and it enacts a grave sense of disconnect from the rest of the world, where morals and honor are seemingly just words on a campaign poster, and each of the untrustworthy characters will commit any shady deal to better themself for the almighty dollar. Beyond Evans directing abilities, the performances from Tom Hardy, Forest Whitaker, and Timothy Olyphant meet the director halfway, particularly Hardy who once again mesmerizes with his nervous ticks and assertive hand that feel like they were made especially for a Gareth Evans picture. Despite the script limiting his character’s development beyond being a corrupt cop looking for a ways out, Hardy commands the screen with a ferocity and intensity that truly make him the ideal candidate to interact with so many dangerous outsiders, where the urgency in his mission can be felt in the anxiousness that he supplants to every brief but impactful interaction. As for Whittaker and Olyphant, they both get a chance to revel in darkly compromising roles that either are of them are rarely afforded, and while neither receive the ample kind of screen time that I was truly hoping for, the radiant charisma of each veteran made them a blast while engaging in the roles, particularly Olyphant, who always emits that effortlessly nuanced look of the cat swallowing the canary, who in turn holds a big secret over everything and everyone that he continuously comes into contact with. Lastly, the script is muddled by unforeseen problems that come to ultimately get the better of it, however I never found the pacing to struggle because of these creative difficulties, with urgency in the air of the developments that surprisingly keeps the movie flowing at a compelling rate. It certainly helps that the movie directly drops us into the heat of this established setting within the film’s opening minutes, setting a frenetic precedent for everything that follows, while also faithfully pursuing the road of inevitable confrontation, the likes of which so much of this movie thrives on, but it’s also highly impactful that the developments of this investigation remain at the forefront of the storytelling, making it a film that is easy to comprehend, even if not entirely compelling by its abundance of characters attached to the conflict.

NEGATIVES

That feels like a great place to transition to the movie’s faults, as a battlefield of characters with very little time in development between them makes it difficult to discern one from the other in the naming of the dialogue, made difficult with a layering of the exposition that continuously stacks until it convolutes an experience that has already been proven as actions-first in importance. For my money, the script could’ve easily combined or cut quite a few of these characters, in order to not only receive more time in the developmental eye, but also holding a deeper significance to the storytelling within the conflict, which could’ve complimented those spots around the action set pieces that aren’t anywhere nearly as compelling. It even feels like it does this with the movie’s editing, where evidently it feels like certain vital scenes pertaining to development with the conflict are missing, like one where Hardy’s partner, a female cop named Ellie magically contains one of the movie’s primary antagonists, while on her way to meeting everyone for the final confrontation, and it inscribes an abundance of confusion right before those moments of action and intensity set the stage for the aforementioned violent shoot-em-up, resulting in a constantly abrupt and underdeveloped screenplay that makes it difficult to attach to these characters and their predicaments. Speaking of the action set pieces, I previously commended their impeccably absorbing sound designs and crisply choreographed fight sequencing, but I’m more than disappointed that the same can’t be said for the movie’s vehicle chase sequences, with C.G backdrops and materializing that felt more than a bit distracting to scenes deeply rooted in high-speed intensity. If the transitions from car to car were a little quicker, allowing for less time to point out the artificiality, then it probably wouldn’t have affected my overall interpretation, however these sequences utilize this gimmick a bit longer than I would’ve expected for a stylistic framing device, and the result doesn’t sync up as seamlessly to the consistencies of Evans proven direction, where every tangibility of living, breathing influence commands emphasis and naturality during unforgiving sequences that artistically deconstruct that wall of safety for the audience watching at home. This goes double for the establishing exterior shots of the cityscapes, which entail with them an overly stylized appeal that didn’t work particularly well with the rest of Evans’ gritty entailing for this nameless setting. While I can’t exactly pin down if these moments were shot on legitimate film, as the layering of the visuals do entail with them that natural form of lighting that makes things feel like they’re shot on location, the slick and digitalized styling of the surrounding imagery feels entirely compromising to the gritty danger factor of Evans unique vision, and its one cost-cutting measure that I wish the film would’ve omitted entirely from its finished product, as it takes away too much of the focus from what’s captured.

OVERALL
“Havoc” is a welcome addition to the Netflix library of adrenalized action flicks, with gut-wrenching set pieces and tangibility towards its darkly unforgiving atmosphere that comes as a result of Gareth Evans’ alluring direction. While the script isn’t particularly creative, with a convolution of characters that tests the patience of the audience during what should be an especially simplistic narrative, the unforgiving brutality of this dangerously unpredictable crime underworld eventually wins out, making this a rivetingly immersive addition to his library, even if far from his personal best.

My Grade: 6.8 or C+