By: Hunter Montroy

Written & Directed by: Gareth Evans

Cast: Tom Hardy, Jessie Mei Li, Justin Cornwell, Quelin Sepulveda, Timothy Olyphant, Forest Whitaker, Luis Guzmán

It has felt as if Gareth Evans’ new film, Havoc, has been in production for what feels like an eternity. Back in 2021, it was announced that Evans would be directing this new film, which he also wrote as part of his Netflix deal. Filming for Havoc wrapped in October 2021, and from there was plagued with delays due to needing reshoots and the SAG-AFTRA strike. Okay, but now a brand-new action film from Gareth Evans with goddamn Tom Hardy is out. This sounds like an absolute slam-dunk, grade-A, pure-adrenaline type of film—well, sadly, it’s just a bland result.

Havoc has a lot going on with a whole slew of pivotal characters that help shape the criminal underworld Tom Hardy’s character, Walker, descends back into. Forest Whitaker plays a corrupt mayoral candidate named Lawrence seeking election, who was helped by Walker to cover up his dirty business prior to the events of the film. Lawrence’s son, Charlie, gets involved in a drug deal gone bad and is from there hunted down by the Triad leader since her son was killed during it. It ultimately turns out a group of crooked cops were behind it, and Charlie is falsely accused by the Triad leader. There’s a whole bunch of other shit that takes place in the story, which is important and all, but that’s the main gist of it to some degree. It definitely has a lot going on.

Gareth Evans isn’t the greatest writer either, which does not help Havoc by any means. The script feels outdated, convoluted, and cliché as they come. It feels like a first draft that was never glossed over to iron any kinks out or create something more sophisticated. The characters in this don’t feel important or special in any way. They just don’t stand out enough to be likable and come off as one-dimensional for the most part. The same goes for any of the antagonists, which I never get the sense are very dangerous to much of an extent.

Havoc certainly looks like it was filmed deep in 2021 during the Covid pandemic because there is a massive reliance on CGI that just looks like shit. For instance, the film opens with a car chase. Cool, right? Well, it’s entirely CGI besides the shots of the characters in the vehicles, and it does nothing to get me invested. I’m just watching a video game cutscene for the most part. Ninety percent of the vehicles shown are fake and look awful, with multiple shots of characters driving or environments that are noticeably fake. Some directors are able to pull off heavy use of CGI and VFX, like David Fincher, for example. Well, Gareth Evans, I must say, you are no Fincher.

Okay, so a Gareth Evans film—it’s got to have good action, right? Yeah, it certainly does. It takes about an hour or so to really get into gear, but for the most part, it’s got some rocking action scenes. You can’t have an action film unless there’s an action sequence that takes place in a nightclub, which Havoc ultimately fulfills. Gareth Evans provides some decent action and set pieces with his signature, unique style. It’s a decent time once these come into play, although it’s certainly nowhere close to something like John Wick.

Yeah, Havoc, it’s… fine, is really all I can say. For the amount of time it spent in production, it falls absolutely flat compared to what I was expecting. Catch me on a good day, and I might like it more, but I don’t care to sit through this one again anytime soon.

Final Score 5/10