Havoc (2025) is written & directed by Gareth Evans. It stars Tom Hardy, Jessie Mei Li, Timothy Olyphant, Forest Whitaker, Quelin Sepulveda, Justin Cornwell, Jeremy Ang Jones, Yann Yann Yeo, Jim Caesar, Xelia Mendes-Jones, Richard Harrington, Serhat Metin, Gordon Alexander, John Cummins, and Luis Guzman. When Charlie (Cornwell), the son of a powerful politician, is targeted by violent criminals after a drug deal goes wrong, it’s up to hardened homicide detective, Walker (Hardy), and his rookie partner, Ellie (Li), to find him before it’s too late. When they discover that their dirty colleagues also want Charlie dead, Walker and Ellie are forced into a desperate fight for survival that threatens to turn their portion of the city into an all-out war zone.     

Hardy easily plays awkward, world-weary characters, but Walker is a protagonist we’ve seen countless times before. Still, the he ultimately works because the script’s over-the-top tendencies allow Hardy to get crazy with his performance. It’s not particularly groundbreaking work, but I can’t imagine an actor who would’ve been better for the role (and I’m a person who thinks Hardy is often miscast).

The supporting cast is strong, but unlike Hardy, they’re unable to elevate their stock characters. The only notable exception to this is Timothy Olyphant, who’s a lot of fun as a dirty cop with seemingly zero morals. I’ll admit that he mostly just plays an evil version of Raylen Givens from Justified (2010-2015), but the villainy makes the character feel just new enough to appreciate. No one in the film gives a bad performance; the script’s weak characterizations just let them down.

The characters and dialogue are nothing special, but when it comes to action, the film delivers some of the best set pieces in years (which is even more impressive considering the film was completed in 2021). For example, I was skeptical that another club-set action sequence would be able to match or at least come close to what we got in John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023), but Havoc proved me dead wrong. The film takes a very grounded approach most of the time, but whenever the action kicks in, realism goes entirely out the window. This will be jarring for many viewers, but I feel that the choice works for various reasons. Gareth Evans’s clear inspiration from Hong Kong action films is, as I stated before, a tad jarring, but it also helps sustain the elongated action set pieces. The protagonists dodge hundreds of bullets with superhuman agility and hit their targets with dead-on accuracy. This feels like a silly level of plot armor, but it’s nonetheless a trademark of the “Gun-fu” subgenre. This can sometimes sacrifice a feeling of danger/stakes, but the film sidesteps this mistake by implementing a few unexpected deaths. Certain archetypes we aren’t used to seeing die in the genre are killed off with a surprising level of brutality. Even if it doesn’t fully deliver on the idea that none of the characters are safe, I appreciated its occasional ability to subvert expectations. If I could boil the film’s action philosophy down to a single question, it’d be this: Why kill someone with one bullet when you can just as easily kill them with ten?
 

Overall, this is a highly entertaining “gun-fu” action extravaganza that emulates films such as Smokin’ Aces (2006), Face/Off (1997), and even Evans’s previous action masterpiece, The Raid: Redemption (2011). The shifting tones and confusingly crappy CGI are sure to alienate a specific portion of the audience. Still, there’s an absurd fun to be had in its multiple moving parts – characters swiftly shift allegiances and motivations in ways that constantly keep the viewer on their toes. The story isn’t new, and we’ve seen the ending before, but this is a case where wonderful action outweighs the film’s familiar elements. It’s destined to be divisive, but I loved it. Except maybe Venom, I think this is one of the best showcases of what makes Hardy’s iconic schtick so irresistible. It’s not for everyone, but action fans who can suspend their disbelief should be in for a treat. It’s not balanced, but who would ever want to ride a flat roller coaster? B