150 Word Review: 'Havoc' (2025)
Bad cop city
Director Gareth Evans wrote and directed two chaotic action classics: The Raid: Redemption, an Indonesian action movie released in 2011, and The Raid 2, released in 2014. He can coast on those flicks forever. This is why I'm forgiving of Havoc, Evans' newest crime drama set in a nameless American city starring Tom Hardy, who is a dirty cop fighting dirtier cops and an army of gangsters. It has lots of style and narrative velocity but little oomph.
Tom Hardy's shtick is becoming predictable: he's a pouty boxer-poet with haunted eyes and a slightly nasal voice. What he lacks in balletic martial arts skills, he makes up for with pure rhino energy. Hardy is a vibe unto himself and doesn't harmonize with Evans. The violence is repetitive, and every bullet causes a hidden jar of cheap marinara sauce to explode out of the chest, legs, or faces of countless henchmen.
Have you seen "The night comes for us" (it is on Netflix)? Not the same director as "The raid" but two of the same lead actors: Iko Uwais and the (IMO) phenomenal Joe Taslim. It surprised me that I loved the first so much (I haven't watched the second yet) and I think it had a lot to do with the actors..