Havoc
‘s Rotten Tomatoes score has arrived, with critics now sharing their thoughts on the Tom Hardy action movie. Directed by Gareth Evans, who helmed both The Raid (2011) and The Raid 2 (2014), the Netflix action movie sees Hardy starring as Tom Walker, a detective who battles his way through the criminal underground to rescue a politician’s estranged son. Hardy is joined in the Havoc cast by Timothy Olyphant, Forest Whitaker, Jessie Mei Li, Justin Cornwell, Jim Caesar, and Quelin Sepulveda, among others.
With the movie now streaming on Netflix, critics’ reviews are pouring in online, and Rotten Tomatoes reveals that Havoc has debuted with a 68% score from 38 reviews, as of writing. Though this score is sure to fluctuate as more reviews are added, it currently comes ahead of Hardy’s previous film, Venom: The Last Dance (40%), but behind The Bikeriders (80%). No Popcornmeter score is here yet, but one should take shape this weekend as Netflix subscribers get a chance to watch the movie. Check out the chart below to see how Havoc compares to Hardy’s movies since 2018:
|
Tom Hardy’s Rotten Tomatoes Scores Since 2018 |
|
|---|---|
|
Havoc |
68% |
|
Venom: The Last Dance |
40% |
|
The Bikeriders |
80% |
|
Venom: Let There Be Carnage |
58% |
|
Capone |
40% |
|
Venom |
31% |
What This Means For Havoc
The Critical Reponse Explained
There has been a great deal of anticipation for Havoc‘s release. The fact that Evans directed both of The Raid movies is a major reason for this, with both of those films wildly regarded as some of the best action movies in recent memory. Havoc has also been a long time coming, with filming completed back in 2021 before the movie went through reshoots and suffered various post-production-related delays. The response on Rotten Tomatoes from critics suggests Havoc may not be on the same level as The Raid, but there is plenty of action thrills to be had.
A common sentiment in reviews is that Havoc is fairly thin when it comes to story and characters, and really any deeper themes. Hardy’s Walker is a jaded detective who breaks the rules, which is a familiar trope. According to many reviews, the movie’s strengths lie in the action, which Hardy is said to nail. In his Havoc review for ScreenRant, Grant Hermanns was mixed on the film, taking issue with not just the story but the action, too, which he says is bogged down by choppy editing and poor CGI, resulting in a five out of 10 score:
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.
Our Take On Havoc’s Rotten Tomatoes Score
Hardy As A Violent Action Hero Is A Major Selling Point
Though ScreenRant‘s own review goes against the grain somewhat, at least according to this early Rotten Tomatoes score, it is reᴀssuring that Havoc is being met with a generally positive response. Those hoping for a repeat of The Raid or its sequel are sure to be disappointed, but that was always a very high bar.
The Raid enjoys an 87% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes while the sequel has a an 83%.
One particularly exciting aspect of Havoc is the team-up between Hardy and Evans, with the former always a very physical performer. Even if the movie doesn’t deliver when it comes to offering up anything new in the story department, just seeing Hardy as a rougher and more gritty John Wick-style action hero could certainly make for a fun movie experience. It’s unclear how general viewers will respond to Havoc, but the film has evidently gotten off to a decent enough start.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes
