Tom Hardy Takes a Beating in Havoc’s Relentless Action
If you’re craving non-stop action, Havoc has you covered. The film, directed by Gareth Evans—who made waves with The Raid—throws Tom Hardy straight into the deep end of a city’s rotten criminal underworld. He plays Walker, a world-weary detective who’s spent too much time staring down barrels and crawling through busted warehouses. You can almost smell the concrete and cheap cigarettes in every scene.
The opening doesn’t waste a second. There’s a car chase that leaves tire marks on your brain, shifting between practical stunts and CGI chaos. Some of the digital effects feel a bit rough around the edges, but the intensity pulls you in right away. This is Evans flexing the same muscles he used in The Raid, giving the audience action that’s sharp, noisy, and impossible to ignore. The guns barely stop firing, and every punch lands with a sickening thud.
But Havoc doesn’t just rehash old tricks. Evans injects a lot of energy into his set-pieces, especially in a wild showdown set in a fishing shack. This scene, in particular, feels like a loving tip of the hat to Hong Kong’s iconic action directors—think John Woo’s balletic gunplay or Ringo Lam’s breakneck pace. The movie dials everything up—gun magazines seem bottomless, bullets fly in disorienting waves, and Hardy looks like he's barely surviving through sheer force of will.
Style Over Substance: Where Havoc Stumbles
For all the film’s grit and adrenaline, it doesn’t always stick the landing on story. The bad guys feel like cardboard cutouts, and the plot moves from brawl to shootout with little downtime or nuance. Evans admits he’s exaggerating for effect—the shootouts aren’t supposed to be realistic. But when you put this much effort into fight scenes, you hope the characters in the middle of the mess feel like real people. Here, they mostly act as props between explosions.
Tom Hardy pulls his weight, brooding through the film with that trademark intensity. He’s battered, bloodied, and convincing as a man teetering on the edge. But beyond Walker, everyone else fades into the background—a missed opportunity with a cast this talented. The generic gangland world comes with the usual tropes: double-crosses, shady deals, and endless betrayals, but barely any surprise or depth.
Critics are split—some can’t get enough of the raw, choreographed chaos, others wanted more meat on the story’s bones. The craftsmanship pops in every bloody frame, but Havoc’s relentless pace can’t quite cover up how thin the narrative is. If you’re in it for the spectacle, it’s an easy recommendation. If you want more than just beautiful carnage, you’ll see the cracks underneath the surface. Still, there’s no question that Evans and Hardy know how to leave an impression, even if the film’s heart isn’t as strong as its fists.
