Havoc‘s director, Gareth Evans, addresses the film’s four-year delay and reshoots reports. The Tom Hardy-headlined action thriller is set in the wake of a drug deal gone wrong and follows Hardy as a seasoned detective who must wade through the corrupt underbelly of his city to find the alleged responsible party. Also starring Jessie Mei Li, Justin Cornwell, Timothy Olyphant, Forest Whitaker and Yeo Yann Yann, Havoc originally wrapped production in October 2021, but had its release delayed due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America and SAG strikes, as well as reshoots.
Now, in light of Havoc‘s release on Netflix on April 25, Evans joined Film Stories for an interview, unveiling what has happened in the last four years. The director acknowledged that the years-long delay was mainly caused by the Hollywood strikes, which turned out to be beneficial to the film, as it allowed him and the rest of the film’s team to “interrogate the film” and determine what they wanted to do with it. Read his comment below:
We wrapped the film in October 2021, and then we delivered an edit, and we all felt, collectively, “Okay, this needs maybe a week’s worth of work to be done.” Just to kind of iron out some story threads that needed a little bit more clarity here and there. We ended up in a situation where getting the ensemble cast back together again, in the same place for the same week, proved incredibly difficult. And so we were struggling to get everyone’s schedules to line up. And then just as we were about to figure that out, we got hit by the WGA strike and the SAG strike. And so everyone kind of stood down for seven or eight months. Then any projects that were going on before that got given priority to finish and complete. I’ve never experienced the post-production that has expanded that long before, but what it did was, it allowed us to interrogate the film and really try things out, experiment with the cut, experiment with the edit. And then see what we really needed. You know what I mean? So that when we did finally get to do these sort of additional pH๏τography, it was super focused on only the bits that we felt we needed.
What Gareth Evans’ Comment Means For Havoc
The Movie’s Years-Long Delay Results In Some Changes In Post-Production
Evans’ comments detail the challenges Havoc faced during post-production and the prolonged time they spent reworking pH๏τography, editing, and the story itself. However, whether the method was effective is an entirely different question. Havoc debuted with a 68% Rotten Tomatoes score from 38 critics’ reviews, but as more have come in, the rating has now dropped to 67% from 58 reviews, alongside a Rotten audience score of 51%. While this will likely fluctuate as more data rolls in, Havoc is among The Raid director’s lowest-rated films.
ScreenRant‘s review of Havoc also reflects the lack of a satisfying viewing experience from inconsistencies in the film’s post-production, filled with editing flaws and poor CGI. The review also noted the lack of originality in Walker’s (Hardy) story arc, but praised the cast. Despite mixed reviews, Havoc is among the better-rated movies in Hardy’s recent filmography, with its Rotten Tomatoes score higher than all three Venom movies, which range from 31% to 58%.
Our Take On Havoc’s Troubled Production History
The Movie Has Its Moments
Despite the extensive time the movie remained in standby mode, Evans did confirm in a separate interview that it didn’t significantly change the movie. Much like what The Raid director explained, the time allowed some emotional distance from the project and helped him streamline some elements which could potentially contribute to a different viewing experience than his other movies.
Havoc has been a highly anticipated project for many, and there have been a lot of built-up expectations among the audience, which has set the bar very high for a brand-new movie, but after being stuck in development for so long, the action thriller movie deserves a fair chance.
Source: Film Stories
