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Review by matt lynch ★★★½ Liked

Mostly a feature-length version of one of Evans' own episodes of his pretty gnarly Gangs of London show. Sometimes bafflingly convoluted and overstuffed with interchangeable characters, takes its time getting to the action, then goes very amusingly nuts for an extended period of runtime. Fun movie.

Review by davidehrlich ★★★

The pleasures of Gareth Evans’ long-awaited “Havoc” are fewer and less consistent than die-hard fans might hope from a project they’ve been waiting to see for so many years (principal photography wrapped in the fall of 2021, only for routine reshoots to get postponed until 2024 due to various strikes and scheduling issues), but the best moments of this comically scuzzy crime saga reaffirm why the Welsh director’s work is worth the hype.

And by “the best moments,” I’m not talking about the clenched dialogue scenes that help to prop up a convoluted gang war between the Chinese mafia and the city’s corrupt mayor — a conflict that feels needlessly convoluted even before Tom Hardy, of all people, volunteers to…

9

cool shit. takes a bit of time to get going but once that promised raid-type action starts it becomes an absolute joy to watch. got some the batman vibes here and there aesthetically, which was lovely.

1

Surely Havoc is not the greatest film of all time, it does have its flaws in plot consistency and occasionally loses its pace. But, it has some strengths. Gareth Evans is a reliable name in action films, he made two of my favorites action films of all time (The Raid (2011) and The Raid 2 (2014) ) and I have to say that this one features a captivating aesthetic, with stunning camera movements and entertaining action scenes. And Tom Hardy's acting is pretty good.
Additionally, just to add a side note beyond the film itself, if Vincent D'Onofrio hadn't nailed his role as Wilson Fisk, Forest Whitaker would have been a great alternative choice.

3

It’s alright son, we’ve got the John Wick nightclub scene at home.

11

Happy “Gareth Evans Is Finally Making Action Films Again” Day to those who celebrate!

It feels like it’s been years and years since this thing was first announced (*checks wiki*…yep, it’s literally been 3.5 years). At one point I must have been monitoring its steady climb through production hell every single month; I mean, Tom Hardy, one of my favorite actors in the world, and Gareth Evans, the director of two of the most incredible action movies in the history of the genre, making a high-octane original action/crime thriller? I’m beyond sold. 

That said, I think Evans may want to give the pen to someone else for a little bit. Writing-wise, this definitely ain’t it—pretty much the most cliche morally-conflicted…

Review by Preet ★★★½ Liked

a drug heist on christmas, no wonder there's so much snow falling

2

so many fancy masks and Tom Hardy is wearing none of them. epic plot twist.

Gareth Evans' long awaited Havoc gonna satisfy your basic cravings. basic is the right word anyway, cause the screenplay isn't coming out of the smartest workshop. I'd argue the exposition is a tad too long to get where this is aiming at (which is simple and pure action set pieces), especially for the stepmother treatment it is getting.

the ruckus & rumpus meanwhile is a decent rollercoaster. there's a car chasing sequence early on that looked too CGI-tampered - apart from that lots of splashing fake blood bags and no complaints. exactly for this, the arguably main reason to watch it, it's a shame that netflix gives him the non-theatre-no-discussion treatment. speaking of preaching to the enlightened here, but it needs to be said, again and again.

small highlight: Luis Guzmán hobbling over and giving a baddie a headshot with a mini revolver.

10

bro straight up lives in crime city 💀

6

I was like a week old when I learned Gareth Evans would finally get back to the action genre, and I was three days old when I knew this was coming out this Friday. Which shouldn’t all come as a surprise considering this is a Netflix movie, and we all know how good they are at promoting their movies.

Anyways, going back to this film. Despite just recently knowing about this, I had some expectations, as the cast and the director promised a lot. And it delivers. Not as much as I was hoping, but man, what a way to open a film. That whole chase sequence was thrilling, exhilarating, tense, and fun, and seeing someone being brutally killed by…

3

Me: you twins?
Havoc & Extraction: nah, we cousins

7

Get in here, everyone! We’ve got another stinker from Netflix! I swear, Gareth Evans makes one solid film and y’all act like he’s the next coming of Christ and that he can do no wrong. You gotta be kidding me with the CGI in this, right? The outside environments, the cars, the awful car chase during the opening. It looked like an opening cinematic to a PS3 game. Just horrible. The endless oceans of CG blood were also appalling and so fake looking, it was extremely distracting. The movie was way too grainy as well. Overall it’s a visual disaster. I wasn’t expecting much out of Havoc. I wanted dumb fun with some badass action scenes and it couldn’t even deliver…