I Think Tom Hardy's New Action Movie Havoc Is A Total Blast, But One Detail Is Keeping Me From Outright Loving It

Spoilers below for anyone who hasn't yet streamed Tom Hardy's Havoc with a Netflix subscription, so be warned!

After a pair of groundbreaking martial arts films in 2013’s acclaimed The Raid: Redemption and its sequel, the modern folk horror classic Apostle, and the action-packed crime series Gangs of London, Gareth Evans earned earned Must-Watch Filmmaker status. (To say nothing of his first two cinematic efforts.) As such, teaming up with Tom Hardy for the long-anticipated thriller Havoc felt like a failsafe combination since its 2021 announcement, and by and large, the film delivers on many preconceived expectations.

Despite being an easy action standout amidst Netflix’s 2025 releases with its stress-inducing car chases and gunplay, or any other upcoming movies this year, Havoc isn’t a perfect movie by any stretch. And even as someone who had a blast watching it, one pretty major detail holds it back from being truly awesome in my mind. Not that there aren’t a few other hiccups as well. So let’s get into it.

The Opening Car Chase And The Nightclub Massacre Are Undeniably Awesome Highlights

Regardless of whether a human is directly behind the camera or is maneuvering it via drone controller, the amount of vim, vigor and verve on display is palpable enough to manifest genuine anxiety within viewers. Rarely do I want to scream "Get off the fucking road!" at nameless passerby in action movies, but the instinct was right there. And I spent too many seconds wallowing in dismay over the risk of a cocaine-filled washing machine landing on my car during a speedy interstate commute.

Almost surprisingly, Havoc takes its time before diving fully back into the mayhem, instead offering a weirdly splintered explanation for who Tom Hardy's only-sorta-corrupt cop Patrick Walker is, and why he's not the happiest camper in the days just prior to Christmas. The plotting here is solid enough, if not exactly novel, with just about everyone falling somewhere on the wrong end of the moral and ethical spectrum.

Which makes it easy to not really give a shit who's potentially standing in harm's way during the rest of the movie's white-knuckle brawls and bullet-hell gunfights. Everything is extremely fast-paced, but is choreographed and blocked well enough so that viewers are never lost in the chaos while howling at all the broken limbs and shattered faces.

Jessie Mei Li's Ellie Is More Than A Rookie Sidekick, And Balances Out Tom Hardy's Walker

Compared to Tom Hardy's bananas performances in 2024's Venom: The Last Dance and its predecessors, his brooding work as Walker can either be described as as understated or non-existent. He's not much of an emotional guy, even in the midst of aggressively murdering dozens of Triad thugs, and is far from an ideal partner choice for Jessie Mei Li's virtuous and non-compromised rookie Ellie.

But as it often goes, Ellie was perhaps the perfect partner for Walker, even if he didn't actually learn anything from her during their short time together. I don't know if anyone in this movie took any lessons to heart, but I can safely say that amidst all of the corruption on display, Ellie's pureness rather deftly stood out, and I would be interested to follow her story in another chapter from this deadly ass universe. And if Hardy's Walker is still around as her partner-in-crimestopping, all the better.

My Biggest Gripe: Timothy Olyphant Is Too Good Of An Actor For Such A One-Note Villain

From Justified to Santa Clarita Diet to Deadwood to Scream 2, Timothy Olyphant is an actor who has proven himself best suited to play interesting, three-dimensional characters, as opposed to anyone whose core purpose is advancing the plot. Unfortunately, not everyone gets that detail correct, and in the case of Havoc, he was cast to play another dirty cop whose main trait is that he believably isn't intimidated by Hardy's Walker.

Other than that, "Vincent" is a total snoozer of a main antagonist, and at no point did anything he did feel like it mattered. To be sure, I can absolutely get why the casting director would want to fill that role with the highest-caliber actor possible, and Olyphant's presence is absolutely part of why I was so excited about Havoc in the strike-delayed wait for its arrival. So I get why he was sought after, but I guess I don't get why he said yes without any truly standout scenes to hang his absent cowboy hat on.

If nothing else, I would have enjoyed if the movie's limited time frame would focus more on Vincent becoming increasingly stressed as his involvement in the central case is uncovered, thus inspiring a more manic and unhinged portrayal. (Though maybe not quite as out-there as Scream 2's Mickey.) It probably goes without saying, but 50 more Olyphant fight scenes would have also sufficed.

Related Minor Gripe: Havoc Needed More Memorable Villains All Around

Here in 2025, it's easier than ever to suspend disbelief to embrace action movie details like seemingly endless gun clips and good guys having astoundingly better aim than bad guys. But it's harder to ignore one of the key tenets to the genre: that every memorble hero deserves an equally memorable foe. Which is wild for a movie where virtually everyone is being unlawful.

Timothy Olyphant's lackluster Vincent has already been discussed, but there are too few examples of clear-cut antagonists beyond him to bring up. Sonny Pang's Ching does zero good for anyone, but doesn't get a ton of screentime, and his evildoing is handled off-screen. Yeo Yann Yann makes the most of her time on-screen as a mourning Triad leader, but her actions are more practical than deplorable. And for all that Michelle Waterson-Gomez's enforcer is a worrisome threat, how much meaningful depth is gonna come from someone whose credit is "Assassin," really?

While we're on the topic of sticking points, I'm also not sure what I'm supposed to feel when the movie is over, as I'm not entirely clear on whether Walker's injuries are life-threatening, or if he's just worried about the impending investigation and likely jailtime for his illegal deeds.

However, when all is said and done, I'm still here to champion Gareth Evans for being one of the most vibrant talents in action filmmaking. So while it's hard to forgive seeing Timothy Olyphant completely devoid of idiosynrasies, such feelings tend to disappear when the fists and bullets start flying.