Tom Hardy’s brutal crime thriller 'Havoc' unleashes relentless action

Tom Hardy leads Gareth Evans’s "Havoc," a gritty crime thriller that trades character depth for brutal, non-stop action sequences.

Tom Hardy, center, with Gordon Alexander in “Havoc.” (c) Netflix

By Anna Fadiah and Hayu Andini

In Tom Hardy’s brutal crime thriller Havoc, viewers are plunged into a city where corruption runs rampant, and violence is the only language understood. Written and directed by Gareth Evans, best known for his work on The Raid films, Havoc strips away deep characterization in favor of explosive, blood-soaked action. Right from the opening scenes, it’s clear that Evans’s latest project is less about storytelling and more about delivering relentless, gut-punching sequences that leave audiences breathless.

Tom Hardy steps into the bruised shoes of Walker, a weary former cop now working as a fixer for a crooked politician. Speaking with a gruff, broken voice reminiscent of his portrayal of Venom, Hardy embodies a man weighed down by regret and bad choices. His journey through the hellscape of Havoc echoes the trope of the grizzled antihero, but the film’s true focus lies not in Walker’s inner turmoil but in the audaciously staged carnage that follows him everywhere.

Gareth Evans returns to his action roots

For fans of Gareth Evans’s signature style, Tom Hardy’s brutal crime thriller Havoc feels like a brutal homecoming. Evans’s talent for choreographing tightly controlled chaos is on full display. While the film’s script borrows heavily from action archetypes — from the rebellious deputy to the vengeful gangster’s mother — it’s the bone-crunching fight scenes that demand attention.

Evans doesn’t waste time dressing up the genre clichés. Instead, he leans into them, allowing the simplicity of the story to serve as a backdrop for some of the most visceral action sequences put to screen in recent years. The color-drained, grimy city, recalling Sin City with its bleak aesthetic, becomes the perfect playground for Walker’s desperate, violent mission.

At the heart of Tom Hardy’s brutal crime thriller Havoc is a straightforward setup: Walker is tasked with finding and rescuing Charlie, the troubled son of Lawrence Beaumont, a shady mayoral candidate played by Forest Whitaker. Charlie and his girlfriend Mia are on the run, tangled up in a scandal involving a hospitalized cop and the murder of a Yakuza gangster.

With crooked cops like Vincent (Timothy Olyphant) and dangerous criminals all hunting them, Walker’s job quickly spirals into a relentless chase through a labyrinth of betrayal, double-crosses, and bloody confrontations. Along the way, he enlists the help of his young partner Ellie (Jessie Mei Li) and relies on gritty informants to piece together the puzzle before the city’s underbelly devours them all.

Shallow characters, unforgettable carnage

While the characters in Tom Hardy’s brutal crime thriller Havoc barely move beyond their genre molds, the film’s saving grace is its kinetic, bone-breaking violence. The early nightclub confrontation, where Walker locates Mia and Charlie, explodes into a four-way bloodbath involving vengeful cops and Japanese gangsters.

In this extended scene, Hardy swings a metal pipe with punishing efficiency, while Mia proves herself no less lethal, wielding a cleaver with fierce abandon. The neon lights turn the chaos into a hypnotic ballet of destruction, with Gareth Evans’s camera capturing every broken bone and bullet wound in fluid, unflinching detail.

The intensity only escalates in the film’s climactic showdown at a secluded woodland cabin. There, Walker, Charlie, and Mia fend off a small army of attackers, utilizing everything from harpoons to hooks to defend themselves. Goons crash through windows and rise from trapdoors in a frenzied assault that feels both horrifying and exhilarating.

One of Evans’s greatest strengths in Tom Hardy’s brutal crime thriller Havoc is his ability to balance chaos with clarity. Despite the mayhem, the action remains comprehensible, with smart use of whip pans to inject urgency and slow motion to savor key moments of brutality. Each fight is meticulously choreographed, emphasizing the raw, desperate nature of the battles.

Unlike the clean, almost balletic gun-fu of the John Wick franchise, the violence here is messy, painful, and deeply physical. Hardy’s portrayal of Walker leans into this grime, showing every grimace and stagger as he pushes his broken body through each brutal encounter.

Havoc embraces the rawness of survival

At its core, Tom Hardy’s brutal crime thriller Havoc is about survival in a world stripped of morality and order. Walker’s motivations are simple: save the boy, clear his debt, and maybe find a sliver of redemption. But Evans doesn’t dress it up with philosophical musings or melodramatic backstories. Instead, he lets the physicality of the performances tell the story.

The result is a film that feels elemental in its simplicity. It’s not about complex relationships or nuanced villainy — it’s about who can survive the next wave of violence. And in Havoc, survival comes at a bloody, bone-shattering cost.

While Tom Hardy’s brutal crime thriller Havoc won’t win awards for originality or character development, it succeeds in delivering exactly what it promises: pure, relentless action. Hardy’s grim performance fits the brutal world Gareth Evans has crafted, and the film’s standout fight sequences will satisfy action fans hungry for something raw and unpolished.

If you are looking for an emotional or intellectual experience, Havoc may leave you cold. But if you crave the heart-pounding thrill of expertly choreographed mayhem, this gritty descent into chaos is well worth the ride. Evans knows how to craft violence that feels both cinematic and painfully real, and in Havoc, he lets that grim artistry run riot.