Gareth Evans really exploded onto the scene with his 2011 action-thriller The Raid: Redemption, showcasing a remarkable grip on breakneck pacing with stylish action sequences, all of which helped to outshine its fairly straightforward plot. In the years since, Evans has explored an interesting range of genre work, ranging from V/H/S/2‘s “Safe Haven” segment to 2014’s The Raid 2. With Havoc, Evans finds himself returning to the action genre after just over a decade, and yet, I found myself wanting far more from it.

Written and directed by Evans, Havoc centers on Tom Hardy’s Walker, a detective in a metropolitan city who is trying to win his family back after his wife discovers his corrupt ties to a local crime lord. When said crime lord’s son becomes the primary suspect in the mᴀssacre of the son of a local Asian crime outfit, Walker is enlisted to find him and bring him to his father before it’s too late. This puts him on a collision course with other corrupt detectives and warring gangs, all while confronting the demons of his past.

Havoc’s Story Lacks Any Kind Of Originality

Must Every Police Action Anti-Hero Have The Same Arc?

Across his four feature-length movies, and his V/H/S/2 segment, Evans has always been in the writer and director chairs for his projects, which have often led to fascinating stories in their respective genres. His debut, Merantau, had a wonderful emotional throughline to go with its action, while The Raid 2 made up for its predecessor’s simple story by offering more layers and character depth. His criminally underrated Apostle also offered a chillingly fresh take on the folk horror genre with its shifting moralities and more direct supernatural elements.

Comparatively, Havoc‘s story is a disappointment because of how unoriginal it is. Time and again, movies about a corrupt police officer tasked with doing something that will draw the ire of everyone around him have the same overall arc, pitting him against fellow officers and other criminals. Even the Karl Urban-led Dredd, which was released on the heels of The Raid (but made at the same time), incorporated many of these genre tropes, but did so in an engaging and entertaining way.

In Havoc, though, the only thing relatively new that Evans brings to the genre formula is making it feel a little more grounded than most other similar action movies. Where some would see their heroes, or supporting characters, save an innocent person at the last minute, many innocents are killed off in the movie, which does add some shock value and stakes to the plot. But, when most action scenes see the primary characters successfully being missed by volleys of ᴀssault rifle fire, it does start to become a bit cartoonish.

Evans’ Direction Is Stylish, But The Same Can’t Be Said Of The Editing

The Movie’s Use Of CGI Is Also Off-Putting

Going all the way back to Merantau, Evans has become known for incorporating the Indonesian martial art of Pencak Silat in his movies, while also having a very shaky handheld camera to add to the gritty nature of the fight scenes. With Havoc, Evans opens himself up to other fighting styles, which makes sense given his characters haven’t all been raised with said Pencak Silat, and this does lead to some delightfully choreographed fight sequences.

The problem with the movie’s action is that, for the first time in his career, Evans has pᴀssed off the majority of editing duties to someone else, while still working as Havoc‘s action editor. Despite having oversight on this element, the editing is the choppiest of Evans’ filmography yet, with some fights being a bit hard to follow with how much chaos is going on between cuts, and some of the choreography being undercut by that.

Havoc‘s action heavily uses CGI for certain sequences, including the opening police pursuit of a stolen big rig truck, in which one of the thieves is holding on to the door from the outside as it continually swings open during the drive. Given how destructive the scene is, I can see why utilizing CGI in lieu of practical effects was probably a cheaper method. It’s not that the CGI looks bad; it’s more that the textures look too smooth and the physics of the scene make it a little too obvious and it pulled me out of the moment.

Havoc’s Cast Ground Things Enough To Keep Things Moving

There Are A Few Notable Stand-Outs Of The Roster

As always, one of the most important parts of Havoc is the movie’s cast, and everyone involved does a solid job to keep us invested in the routine story. Shadow and Bone alum Jessie Mei Li is charming and relatable as the bright-eyed young detective partnered with Walker, who Hardy brings to life with the appropriate amount of gruff swagger and adrenaline-driven strength. Timothy Olyphant and Sunny Pang are also effectively menacing as two very different threats to Walker in his fight through the criminal underworld.

The standout of Havoc‘s cast, though, is Yeo Yann Yann as Tsui’s mother. Walker is really racing against time to find the crime lord’s son before she can enact her revenge on him. Yeo is hauntingly magnetic as a mother driven by grief, being just restrained enough to keep her actions unpredictable, while still allowing her pain to be felt in nearly every line of dialogue. While it’s a shame the movie around the cast doesn’t quite match their efforts, it at least gives them just enough to keep Havoc from being a complete waste.