Tom Hardy joins writer/director Gareth Evans (The Raid: Redemption) for a bloody action/crime drama that is interesting enough when the bullets are flying—but rather bland when the action dies down.
Hardy plays Walker, a homicide detective who must decide whether he’s a good cop or a bad cop as he tangles with corrupt politicians, dirty peers and a crime syndicate. His investigations often lead to the sort of crazed battles one has come to expect from Evans; there’s a lot of chaotic gunplay and hand-to-hand combat, much of it so extreme and frenzied that it’s hard to follow the action.
Evans delivers a couple of decent set pieces on the action side, but the script and performances fail to create any characters worth the audience’s emotional investment. Hardy—whose credibility took a hit with his involvement in the abysmal Venom franchise—gets buried in all of the action and doesn’t make anyone want to root for him.
Forest Whitaker and Timothy Olyphant show up in supporting roles as the dirty politician and the dirty cop. Neither are given much to do beyond trope-type posturing. Talent gets buried under bodies pulverized by bullets.
The action might satisfy at times, but the characters don’t pop, so it’s hard to imagine a Havoc 2 anytime soon.
Havoc is now streaming on Netflix.