User reviews

I really like Tom Hardy and Timothy Olyphant - both are incredible actors. But man, what a waste.

The cinematography was a complete disaster. Who at Netflix actually approved this? The camera work was all over the place, and that weird Sin City knockoff CGI style made it even worse. It was distracting, not stylish.

At times, it almost gave me Die Hard vibes - just a little. But without the sharp wit or the comedic relief that made Die Hard a classic, it ended up feeling hollow.

Seriously, with this kind of budget and cast, they had all the ingredients for something great. Instead, they threw it away on cheap visual gimmicks and chaotic direction.

What a waste of production. They really need to stop burning money and start making films that actually make people go, "Wahhh!" - not "What the hell was that?"

I've never seen so many bullets used per kill in a movie ever. Also, they literally had infinite bullets per magazine. I wish I had those mags for my guns. Would take out a lot of wasted time at the range. I actually assumed this movie had to be made based off a video game and was shocked to see it wasn't.

Overall, entertaining but let's not actually debate if this movie is good lol. I'm a big Tom Hardy fan so anything he's in I'll watch based on him alone. I'm really looking forward to him being in a movie or series that allows him to use his acting skills. The past few movies he pretty much as played the same type of character.

Ok, this action packed crime film is bloody, brutal, gritty, but the importance of bodycount makes you get rif off your head the rest of the story. No one cares about the intrigue which only a handful of us will follow. The action is really powerful, well made, but the camera work is also "too much", it may make you dizzy. The action scene in the night club is inspired from JOHN WICK, maybe more than the previous THE RAID films - directed by the same guy. And this scene is too long for me, I nearly felt bored. The ending is lousy. Yes, a forgettable film. Tom Hardy is just OK. Not more. I prefered THE RAID features; concerning GANGS OF LONDON, I have not watched yet - also made by Gareth Evans.

Shooting is cartoony, characters miss a whole lot but fire a lot of bullets with almost no precision, combat is visceral, satisfying and gory and in style of the director, very similar in the way it was shot to the legendary The Raid, camera follows the action closely but as the action itself is hectic so is the camera so a lot of the scenes move really fast and have quick cuts in between action pieces.

Story is predictable and you start to understand the whole narrative in the first 30 mins and characters are too one dimensional to even slightly care about them.

Tom Hardy gives a slightly better performance here than he did in Venom, his character is gruff, gritty and jaded and he manages to somewhat sell it, but he shines in his fight choreography which is simply put glorious and over the top.

Gun violence on the other hand seems too gratuitous, characters suffer multiple injuries yet somehow are still left standing and are able to one shot someone else. Precision is completely thrown out the window in some segments of the movie, in one scene a character is shot through a car window with a shotgun blast that barely scratches him and in the next a character riding a train is shot down multiples times from a big distance with a pistol.

The entirety of the traffic in the movie is for some reason almost completely computer generated, cars move unrealistically and really look out of place, ruining the immersion and making the whole viewing experience seem really cheap. Pistols sound epic but not in a realistic way as every pistol fired sounds like a cannon being shot and a lot of pistols in the movie seem to have rapid fire capabilities in one scene then suddenly becoming single shot in the next. Submachine guns firing sounds like miniguns.

You really have to suspend your disbelief when watching this movie as it's so hilariously unrealistic.

I was so excited going into this movie. For 4 years I've been waiting for this one. I was sadly disappointed. Even though I wasn't expecting a story driven movie, the plot is surprisingly dull. The action at times was cool, but I felt the camera movement was too much. I just don't think the action was up to what Gareth is capable of. I do think some of it might be because of the bigger names in the film. I still felt the choreography could have been better. It never felt like the main characters were in any danger. The Netflix cgi is always strange to me and doesn't look real at all. I hate to even talk about one of my favorite director's work like this, but it is what it is. I was sadly disappointed. I also didn't help myself by watching the raid movies before this one.

I went into Havoc with some hope, but honestly, it was a huge disappointment. Right from the opening chase scene, I could barely keep watching. The camera work was absolutely terrible, with constant, aggressive shaking that made it nearly impossible to tell what was happening. It felt like they thought shaking the camera = intensity, but it just made everything look messy and annoying.

The lighting was awful too, CGI was shockingly bad. Most of the city night sequences looked like cheap video game cutscenes rather than a real movie. At times I honestly forgot I was watching a film and not some low budget game from a decade ago.

After the opening chase, I seriously considered turning it off. It felt like a bad video game come to life - unpolished, incoherent, and completely lacking any real atmosphere or tension even the car physics looked so bad and video game likish

Disappointing is an understatement.

I was waiting for this movie to be released for as long as it has been announced, and now that the wait is finally over - it's definitely disappointing.

Clearly something must have happened to the original execution of this movie. It was quietly delayed for years and was released on streaming just as quietly. It's certainly no "Raid", it's more like a tired Jason Statham type movie. Some of the things in it are plain bizzare, such as the setting. This feels like Gotham or some alternative version of RoboCop's Detroit. The CGI is awful, it's so weird it us even present here in such copious amounts considering what the director is known for. The story is simple, yet indescribably odd. The lighting is also a weak point of this movie. The casting is superb and some of the fights are fine, but again, coming from Gareth Evans it's a bare minimum of what you'd expect. This isn't a terrible movie by any stretch and you can enjoy it for what it turned out to be, but you have to keep your expectations surprisingly low.

The highlight of the movie is probably the club fight with Gesaffelstein blasting, but that's as good as it gets. Overall, pretty passable.

I love Tom Hardy.

What is he doing in this absolutely garbage.

It's like a poorly directed and written version of John Wick without any of the cool.

The camera work is awful, you can't see what's going on for most of the film. Plenty of shooting and blood but for what reason? The plot doesn't make sense and it's hard to buy into any of the characters. It's hard to finish.

None of the henchmen are to be able to aim. Plenty of automatic assault rifles going off but sadly none of the bullets seem to go anywhere.

The movie finishes without any emotion because you just don't care for any of the characters.

Havoc truly shines through its incredible action sequences-long, fast-paced scenes packed with blood and gunfire! Every action fan will definitely get their money's worth here.

However, the film fails on almost every other level. It has no real meaning or depth, which makes it hard to get invested. As a result, it also lacks real tension.

On top of that, the movie is filled with irrelevant characters and side plots, making it hard to follow at times.

Tom Hardy delivers a solid performance as always, but he's given almost nothing to work with here.

Unfortunately, this one is only recommended for hardcore action enthusiasts.

I looked forward to this one, my expectations were high. But yet again I was disappointed. As a matter of fact, I didn't even manage to finish it. Gave it about 48 minutes when I decided I had enough. The biggest problem with this movie is, like with so many others, I just didn't care. Even when a movie is violent and gritty, to get involved in it, you'd at least need to feel for someone. Have some compassion for someone, hope that someone survives, gets revenge and "saves the day". None of that in this one. Couldn't care less about who got hurt, shot, kidnapped or killed. Even if they would've killed Hardy off, I would've shrugged it off. Whatever.

All it is, is a chain of uninteresting bad guys (and bad girls) running around in an ugly scenery beating each other up and killing each other. Maybe it's just me, but I was bored.

4 Stars because it's Tom Hardy. But it's time they upgrade him to what he really deserves. 007 Maybe?

Havoc opens with a chase scene in which I believe the vehicles are fully CGI. Even the way the cars move feels like they have no weight. It's stylized but looks pretty fake. I wasn't sure how to feel about it.

A good way through the runtime, it felt like it was on its way to being another forgettable streaming movie. Then an action scene happens involving mostly hand-to-hand combat. And suddenly I couldn't stop smiling and/or had my jaw dropped.

I'm not easy to please when it comes to fight scenes. But this one does everything right. The hits are hard. I can see everything clearly. No shaky cam or quick cuts. Beautiful choreography.

At the same time, it's intentionally over-the-top. There is so much blood, hits that would likely kill a person in real life. The gun fights are the same way. It takes like 20 shots to kill someone. And I ate it all up. I laughed out loud multiple times at the extent of the carnage.

It has a pretty good story that kept me invested. I enjoyed the musical score. Tom Hardy is a beast, both as an actor and in his action scenes (dude does MMA for fun). And where has Timothy Olyphant been!? He was a great addition to this cast.

Overall I had an awesome time with this movie. Realism need not apply. Turn your brain off and enjoy the amazing stylized violence on display. As an action junkie, I strongly approve.

(1 viewing, 4/24/2025)

The story is pretty basic. Relying on relentless gun-fu mass fight scenes and a body count worthy of a John Wick film.

What raises the standard is a top class cast list who give great focused performances, one and all, classy set-piece action scenes, nice noir Gotham City vibe.

It won't challenge your brain, but if you like action, guns, martial arts based fight scenes, guns, body count and blooed splatter, guns, err..... what else? Ahh yes, guns. Then this is going to make you smile, even rewind or replay certain scenes just to appreciate the athletic stunts and fights.

The only thing that jars is the (apparently) 80 round pistol magazines, lol.

But whatever, brain off, smile on.

Havoc is easily one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time.

It's just violence for violence's sake, a chaotic mess with zero emotional pull or purpose. The action scenes are endless, but you don't care about a single character or what happens to them. It's like watching a two-hour-long street fight... with absolutely no reason behind it.

Direction: Major Letdown I had huge expectations because Gareth Evans (The Raid) is a beast when it comes to action filmmaking. But here? It feels like he just gave up halfway through. There's no real story, no build-up - just an endless barrage of shootouts, chases, and meaningless bloodshed. It's almost shocking how lazy and disjointed everything feels. Evans usually knows how to craft tension - here, he throws in "grit" without any actual depth.

Acting: Painfully Uninspired Tom Hardy is one of my favorite actors, but even he looks completely checked out in this. His performance is stiff, like he's just reading disconnected lines off cue cards. Same for the rest of the cast - Forest Whitaker, Timothy Olyphant - all seriously wasted. You can see they aren't attached to the story at all. They're just throwing out random sentences like they're filming a rough draft, not a finished movie.

Violence vs Context: A Tarantino Lesson Listen, I love a good violent movie. Quentin Tarantino's films are full of blood, but every brutal scene he films has weight behind it - you feel why it matters. And the actors in his movies completely disappear into their roles.

Havoc is the exact opposite: mindless blood, mindless acting, mindless everything. There's no reason to care about any of the fights, and no moment where you think, "yeah, this needed to happen." It's just spectacle for the sake of spectacle.

Final Thoughts Havoc tries way too hard to be gritty and "real" but ends up just being loud, shallow, and forgettable. It's a massive step down for Gareth Evans, and honestly, I expected way more from both the director and the cast. Netflix hyped this one up like crazy - but in the end, it's just another flashy trainwreck you'll forget five minutes after watching.

Save your time. Watch literally anything else!

Do you like non-stop gunfire for two hours with no plot or interesting characters? Then you'll love Havoc!

The camera angles are strange, either shaking or swerving violently, or moving to unusual angles such as from underneath, for no apparent reason.

There's more gore than a horror film such as metal hooks ripping open flesh on a face, for absolutely no reason as it's a gunfight.

Every line in the movie has swearing. I don't care about contextual language but it was like they told the AI writer to include it just for the sake of it, even when it doesn't sound natural or make sense!

The nightclub scene was the only part worth watching due to the martial arts set to thumping music, but avoid the rest.

Havoc is a gritty action-thriller directed by Gareth Evans, starring Tom Hardy as a detective caught in the crossfire of a failed drug deal, corrupt officials, and a violent criminal underworld. Set in a dark, stylized city, the film follows his descent into chaos as he tries to rescue a politician's son and expose deep-rooted corruption.

What Works:

Tom Hardy delivers a fierce, intense performance.

Action sequences are brutal, well-choreographed, and relentless.

Visually impressive with gritty cinematography and slick editing.

What Doesn't Work:

The story is thin and overly familiar, with predictable twists.

Supporting characters are underdeveloped.

Lacks emotional depth-feels more like a video game than a movie at times.

Final Verdict: Havoc is all style and action with limited substance. If you're a fan of raw, brutal thrillers and don't mind a weak storyline, it's a wild ride. But if you're expecting depth or originality, it may disappoint.

Rating: 7/10.

With The Raid films, Gareth Evans proved he was an exceptional action director. His creation of Gangs of London proved that when he wasn't directing fights, he wanted melodrama as the only tone he's looking for.

With Havoc we get more of the same. Tom Hardy plays the a cynical cop who is a poor father, a character type you have seen 100 times before. There is too much mediocre dramatic scenes and not enough action. That does change as the film evolves but it strengths lie in the shooting not dialogue or interesting narrative. The larger action set pieces such as the chase at the beginning are stylistically odd. The digital comp shots make elements look more like something out of a video game rather than from a film with a decent budget. The less vehicular orientated action is up to Evans's usual kinetic best, it's visceral and intense.

Want to see Tom Hardy do the Raid then you will be happy, but not amazed. Want to see what Edwards can do with more money and a talented (in some cases Oscar winning or nominated) cast it's underwhelming.

An enjoyable action flick which is less than the sum of its parts.

Havoc stars Tom Hardy, always watchable, as a brooding, corrupt detective. The plot centers around a drug theft and exchange gone bad, which puts the Chinese Triad against the thieves and corrupt cops. Action sequences are plentiful and well above average. The women, from the Triad to the perpetrators to the cops, give as good as they get, which works for me. The last third of the movie is so full of holes a fleet of semis could drive through it. And there is what I call a plot device that seems ridiculous. The director gives the city a noir feel and partially succeeds. The movie is good escapist fun, never boring. Worth a watch, but don't expect anything resembling realism.

I was really looking forward to this film with Tom Hardy, Timothy Olyphant and Forrest Whitaker.

I'm currently loving Tom Hardy in 'MobLand' and Forrest Whitaker in 'The Godfather of Harlem' and, of course, Tim Olyphant from 'Justified' and 'Deadwood.' Instead, I got a video game. An AI generated script. A complete waste of three great actors, and my time!

Welshman Gareth Evans (Writer/Director/Producer) is responsible for this utter mess. The only reason I can think of for Tom Hardy's involvement is he must be friends with Evans and he is doing a friend a favor. Good grief!

I gave it three stars: One for Tom Hardy. One for Timothy Olyphant. One for Forrest Whitaker. Merely out of respect for the three of them.

Bloody, gory and over the top violence, yet it doesn't fail to entertain. A fast-pacing action movie that is the trade mark of Gareth Evans, the director of the acclaimed "The raid" ultra-violent Indonesian movie series. Tom hardy stars as a shady tough city cop who is forced into war against the underworld and corrupt cops, and he is assisted by an honest female partner. This move has an 80's and 90's flair to it with exciting car chase scenes and unlawful "interrogation" scenes. If you're squeamish stay away from this movie, but if you're a action movie junkie this flick will keep you glued to the screen.

Chaotic, bloody, and violently relentless, Havoc serves primarily as a canvas for Gareth Evans to paint with bullet holes and entrails. There's a vital aspect to Evans' filmmaking that has yet to lose momentum, drawing from his extensive knowledge of the heroic bloodshed genre to combine ferocious violence with themes of morality, extending his small yet combustible oeuvre. Despite taking some time to get going, when it finally breaks loose, the film delivers wave after wave of hilariously over-the-top, comic overkill and pure action mayhem with inventive, thrilling choreography that makes it seem as if his cameras are bouncing off bodies and walls. There's something refreshingly egoless to it; Hardy may have top billing but takes not only many sucker punches to the face but an entire roof to the head. Its narrative may be lacking, but nearly every other aspect isn't; unsurprisingly, the film is at its best when we're plunged into wall-to-wall carnage. While the result is far from perfect, Havoc dispenses chaos and devastation at every opportunity, a throbbing, bone-crunching diorama of violence with the occasional horrifying, glorious flourish. Guess I need to crack on with Gangs of London Season 3 now.

Gareth Evans is known for high velocity action, including quick and brutal scenes of violence and fighting. He's a producer for Gangs of London and he directed The Raid movies and another Netflix feature, Apostle.

There were some delays in finishing this movie with reshoots. I think it was to make sure the action was at a high-paced thrill level. Well it is!

I'm not sure why there are detractors here, beyond contrarianism or a misconception over extremely violent action thrillers. Havoc delivers.

The fighting of international Triad drug dealer gangsters and crooked homicide cops is crazy! Guns, swords, hand to hand bludgeoning.... The movie begins with a crazy police car chase. Drugs, crooked cops, a crooked mayor, international assassins with motorcycles and guns.... This is what you're getting with Havoc. And it's what I've been waiting for.

This is very entertaining and scratches the gory violent itch that I have.

If you want a movie showing moistened-eye folk reconnecting with loved ones or scenes of lonely hearts finally finding true love, this is not the movie for you. But you know that.

If you want a sweeping mafia epic with family drama and capitalist philosophy, then watch The Godfather. Or If you want a movie with estranged lovers embracing in visceral relief, then go watch The Scrapbook with Brian Gostling and Rachel Green.

What can I tell you?

Clearly made for the Chinese market and for people who loves violent video games. A very thin story incapsulated in an abundance of violence.

A lineup of good actors can't rescue this movie, since they all disappear in the body mist of shots fired from guns with limitless magazines. Even Tom Hardy struggles to shine even a little bit. If you love violent video games this might be a movie to watch. If not, stay away.

Several times I wondered who are shooting at whom? Who survived and who got killed by whom? Sadly, the answers to these questions eventually got irrelevant It didn't matter to me as the movie crept forward. I didn't attach to any of the characters and I didn't care.

Not bad movie. It's a gritty action thriller with Tom Hardy as a rogue detective navigating a chaotic city ruled by crime. Lot of intense fight choreography and non-stop action. Hardy justified his character but the story leans heavily on clichés with a predictable plot and thin dialogue. Forest role could have been more meaningful. Some of the characters were not necessarily add value to the story.

Despite its narrative flaws, the movie shines in its brutal, well-executed action scenes. It's a solid watch for fans of hardcore action, but may disappoint those looking for deeper storytelling. Good weekend popcorn movie.