AFTER a long hiatus following 2018’s folk horror film Apostle, Gareth Evans returns to the world of crime and action with Havoc, a film that truly lives up to its name, for better or worse.
Evans, more popularly known for the cult favourite Indonesian martial arts duology The Raid and The Raid: Berandal from a decade ago, has shown that he is still at the top of the game when it comes to directing action flicks. However, his skill in taking on drama and writing have inexplicably fallen off hard.
A contrived mess, Havoc concerns a group of thieves led by Charlie Beaumont (Justin Cornwell) stealing washing machines before grievously injuring a narcotics detective following a lengthy vehicle pursuit.
In Evans’ escalatingly convoluted story, Charlie’s group tries to sell the drugs inside the washing machines to Tsui, the son of a powerful triad leader. This too goes awry, as a second group of antagonists with assault rifles and hockey masks show up, leading to Tsui and countless others dying.
Dirty homicide detective Patrick Walker (Tom Hardy) is then tasked by the mayoral candidate of Havoc’s unnamed American city, Lawrence (Forest Whitaker), to find Charlie – his estranged son – before the police and triad get to him.
