Tom Hardy, Gareth Evans team up for Hong Kong-style action in 'Havoc' on Netflix

Frenetic and bursting at the borders of a television screen, there's an appropriateness to the title of the Netflix film "Havoc."

Helmed by Welsh director Gareth Evans (The Raid: Redemption"), it typifies his style and appreciation of Hong Kong-styled action movies. The pace is border-line exhausting; the blood comes by the gallon and the violence is realistic and brutally graphic.

It's a genre that can be a take-it-or-leave-it proposition, but has produced more than a few classic actioners including "Police Story." It's also influenced more than a few directors including Quentin Tarantino ("Kill Bill" films), Chad Stahelski ("John Wick" series) and The Wachowskis ("Matrix" films).

What makes those movies "take it" for most film watchers? Casting the right acting collaborators. In all the aforementioned films, the director casted the lead perfectly.

Enter Evans' perfect choice: the tough, grizzled British actor Tom Hardy , who brings his no-nonsense alpha male persona to the role of a physically battered and emotionally spent police detective in an unnamed North American city.

Although he doesn't necessarily realize it, it's going to be a rough Christmas Eve for Walker. To his dismay, he's paired with Ellie (Jessie Mei Li), a uniformed officer. He's under a cloud of suspicion due to connections to businessman Lawrence Beaumont (the always enjoyable Forest Whitaker). The cloud grows thicker, however.

Lawrence's son, Charlie (Justin Cromwell), gets involved in a situation with the Asian mafia and the elder Beaumont calls in his favorite police detective to track him and his girlfriend, Mia (Quelin Sepulveda).

Ready for more complications? Throw in the mix a pack of dirty cops and you've produced the recipe for…well…havoc.

That's not just thematically, however, Evans' filming style certainly contributes to the feeling of mayhem contained throughout much of the film. Car chases occur at warp speed and when the bullets spray, the blood explodes in cloud bursts. In short: he's great at producing a mood.

Hardy adds to an impressive, diverse roster of work in the past year that allowed him to showcase his versatility from the drama of "The Bikeriders" to the comic book comedy of "Venom: The Last Dance" to the Paramount+ series "MobLand." Now this.

Walker is almost as tired as Hardy should be from cramming all that work in the past couple of years. It shows in his craggily face. His movements when he's not being forced to physically fight portray just a hint of weariness to the slight sound of exasperation in his voice. Hardy delivers all of that in a performance where the character internally screams "Please let this be over."

He's given a roster of impressive complementary players including the aforementioned Whitaker, an Oscar winner, and a character actor extraordinaire. Also of note: Timothy Olyphant as a Walker colleague on the police force.

"Havoc" possesses a nice blend of stylish action and more than a few memorable performances to make it worth a watch on Netflix.

George M. Thomas covers a myriad of things including sports and pop culture, but mostly sports, he thinks, for the Beacon Journal.

Review

Movie: "Havoc"

Cast: Tom Hardy, Forest Whitaker, Timothy Olyphant, Jessie Mei Li

Directed by: Gareth Evans

Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Rated: R for language, graphic violence

Grade: B

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Havoc on Netflix with Tom Hardy delivers Hong Kong-style action