Tom Hardy is leading the new Netflix action movie Havoc, a role long overdue after the end of a profitable yet not very successful franchise. Netflix continues to be a powerful presence in the world of streaming, thanks to both its licensed content and its original productions. Netflix keeps adding more of both to its catalog every week, and some of its original productions have been so big that they are teased months before. Netflix has already teased some of the projects coming up in 2025, and among them is a Tom Hardy-led action movie.
The branch of action movies is an interesting one over at Netflix. The platform has built a long list of action movies, where those produced by Netflix stand out, though not always for their good quality. However, Netflix is home to hits like both Extraction movies and the Korean movie Ballerina, and the platform will keep bringing more action movies in 2025, such as Havoc. This movie can not only give a boost to Netflix’s action branch but also to Hardy’s career, as he hasn’t made an action movie outside the world of superheroes in a decade.
Tom Hardy Was A Great Action Movie Star
Tom Hardy Made A Name For Himself In The Action Genre
Tom Hardy’s career began in 2001 with a role in one episode of Band of Brothers and in Ridley Scott’s war film Black Hawk Down. Hardy’s first action role was in the 2008 movie Sucker Punch (not to be confused with Zack Snyder’s movie of the same name), about a bare-knuckle fighter who teams up with a con artist. Next for him in this genre was Thick as Thieves in 2009, followed by Christopher Nolan’s Inception in 2010, where he played Eames, a member of Cobb’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) team whose specialty was forgery.
Hardy’s next action role was in Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, the closing chapter of his Dark Knight trilogy. In it, Hardy played the villain Bane, and though his distorted voice was criticized, his performance was praised by critics. However, Hardy’s biggest action role arrived in 2015, when he was cast as Max Rockatansky in George Miller’s Mad Max Fury Road. Hardy’s performance received a lot of praise, as did his on-screen chemistry with Charlize Theron, becoming one of his best roles to date.
Outside superheroes, Hardy hasn’t made an action movie since Fury Road.
After playing John Fitzgerald in The Revenant, Hardy returned to the world of superheroes but now on Marvel’s side in Venom. Hardy played Eddie Brock and Venom, and continued to do so in the sequels Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Venom: The Last Dance. Outside superheroes, however, Hardy hasn’t made an action movie since Fury Road, so Havoc is his big return to the genre.
Tom Hardy’s Venom Franchise Is Now Finally Over
Tom Hardy Starred In Sony’s Venom Trilogy
Despite his popularity and acting range, Tom Hardy spent the last six years in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe thanks to Venom. The first movie got negative reviews from critics but was a box office success, thus granting it its sequels. Venom: Let There Be Carnage got mixed reviews but also succeeded at the box office, and the same happened to Venom: The Last Dance. Despite their many flaws, Hardy’s performance was praised in all Venom movies.
|
Movie |
Rotten Tomatoes’ Critics Score |
Rotten Tomatoes’ Popcornmeter |
|---|---|---|
|
Venom |
30% |
80% |
|
Venom: Let There Be Carnage |
58% |
84% |
|
Venom: The Last Dance |
40% |
80% |
In between Venom movies, Hardy played Al Capone in the 2020 biographical drama Capone, had a cameo appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home as Eddie Brock/Venom, had an uncredited background role in The Matrix Resurrections, and starred as Johnny Davis in the crime drama The Bikeriders. Although he has proven to be a great action star, Hardy decided to fully focus on Venom, but now that the trilogy is over, he can finally make other action movies that are different from those in the superhero genre.
Havoc Should Be A Great Tom Hardy Action Movie
Havoc Has A Lot Of Potential
Tom Hardy’s only project lined up for 2025 is Havoc. Written and directed by Gareth Evans, Havoc follows Walker (Hardy), a detective who, after a drug deal goes wrong, has to fight his way through a criminal underworld to rescue a politician’s estranged son. In addition to this, Walker will be untangling the city’s disturbing dark web of conspiracy and corruption. At the time of writing, Havoc doesn’t have a release date, but it’s scheduled to be released at some point in 2025.
Havoc already has all the elements to make a good action movie. First off, Gareth Evans is no stranger to the genre, having written and directed The Raid and its sequel, both of which were very well-received by critics. Having Hardy as the lead actor is also a strength for Havoc, and he’s accompanied by the talents of Forest Whitaker, Timothy Olyphant, Jessie Mei Li, Luis Guzmán, and more. Havoc will remind the audience of the type of action star Tom Hardy is, and hopefully, it will be a successful return to the genre for him.
