Netflix And Chill: Havoc (2025)

It gives me no amount of pleasure to say that Havoc is quite awful. It's a bad movie, a disappointing action movie (one or two set-pieces aside), and easily the worst film yet from writer-director Gareth Evans.

The plot is quite simple. Tom Hardy is a cop, Walker, who ends up working to untangle a very bad situation when some young robbers are framed for the murder of a very powerful Triad gang leader. Hardy has a relatively new partner, Ellie (Jessie Mei Li), along for the ride. They want to get to the robbers while they're still breathing, but it's a situation complicated by the fact that Walker hasn't always been a clean and well-behaved cop, and he has some colleagues who would also benefit from the robbers being taken out of the picture.

Having unnecessarily transformed Cardiff into some non-specific American state, as far as I can tell, and then dealt with COVID delays and reshoots, I wonder if there was ever a point when Evans wondered if this was really worth all of the potential hassle. I would say that it wasn't. I've already seen comments from others who have loved it, but I would politely, yet strongly, disagree with all of them. There's nothing here that feels truly worth your time, especially when you can simply check out the past works from Evans, or even find better action films tucked away in the Netflix archives.

Hardy is fine in the lead role, delivering the awful dialogue with an accent and manner that is in line with the neo-noir shading. Li doesn't do as well, probably because the rookie partner is a much less interesting figure (and often there for one main purpose). Quelin Sepulveda and Justin Cornwell remain easy to root for, despite the fact that we first see them fleeing from cops in a sequence that ends with someone getting a large kitchen appliance wedged into them. Sunny Pang does well in a role that allows him to be manipulating those around him, Yeo Yann Yann is a vengeful mother, and Timothy Olyphant overcomes the weak material with his sheer Olyphant presence. Forest Whitaker is wasted in a small role, as are Luis Guzmán, Richard Harrington, and Michelle Waterson, the latter playing a skilled assassin who consistently proves to be the biggest threat to our lead.

I don't mind nonsense dialogue and plotting that is unoriginal and unexciting, as long as the rest of a film delivers. If you're not going to give me fleshed-out characters or a decent screenplay then at least ensure that the action is top-notch. The action here is not top-notch. There's a fantastic sequence at about the halfway point, an extended fight in a club, and that opening chase at least starts the whole thing off with an energy and sense of momentum that isn't maintained throughout, but that is it. As for the rest of it, the close combat is spoiled by a juddering camera effect, meant to add to the feeling of impactful hits, and poor editing choices (although, to be fair, Evans still shoots action far better than many others). And as for the shooting, let's just say that there were times when I wondered how many characters in this movie would have been more at home in a legion of Stormtroopers, that's how bad most of them aim.

I am happy for those who enjoyed this. I just wish that I could count myself among them. Havoc could have worked well if it only had one or two mis-steps to move around, but it ends up being an entire collage of poor decisions and miscalculations. It's not enough to turn me completely away from Evans, but I'll be hoping to see a major improvement in whatever his next feature is.

3/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews
Or Amazon is nice at this time of year - https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/Y1ZUCB13HLJD?ref_=wl_share

 

Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)

Great soundtrack? Check. Robin Williams being absolutely wild with his comedic DJ routines? Check. A standard battle of wills between the old and the new? Check. When I sat down for this long-overdue revisit of Good Morning, Vietnam, a film I believe I probably last watched on VHS, I thought I knew what I was getting. Because I still remembered it, the "highlights" anyway. Or so I thought. There was quite a bit here that I'd forgotten, and I'm here to now remind other people about some of those things.

Based on the story of Adrian Cronauer, a radio DJ who spent some time trying to raise the morale of the troops in Vietnam, this was one of only two films written by Mitch Markowitz, although some of his TV work feels like a good practice run for this kind of thing. You could also argue that a lot of the film was made up by an unleashed Williams, who Cronauer claimed made him seem a hell of a lot more fun than he was in reality, but let's give due credit to Markowitz for crafting something with a great balance of comedy, drama, and enough room for a supporting cast to move around without being thrown offscreen by the tornado tearing through many scenes.

When he is given his new job, Cronauer soon finds himself butting heads with Lt. Steven Hauk (who tries to advise him on both comedy and the permitted playlist) and Sgt. Major Dickerson (J. T. Walsh), but he also has some immediate firm friends in the shape of Edward Garlick (Forest Whitaker) and Marty Lee Dreiwitz (Robert Wuhl). When he falls for a local woman named Trinh (Chintara Sukapatan), Cronauer ends up teaching an English class just to try getting closer to her, which leads to him befriending her brother, Tuan (Tom T. Tran, credited here as Tung Thanh Tran), which leads to him getting himself in even more trouble.

Director Barry Levinson knows how to make the most of what he has here, and everything I mentioned in the opening paragraph is a strength for the film. The plotting is quite formulaic, but in an enjoyable way, Williams is on great form, and that soundtrack holds up as one of the best. There's enough scene-setting to remind everyone that we're in Vietnam, but it helps that there are only really a few main locations used throughout the majority of the runtime (the DJ area/military offices, a bar, the English class). There's also enough Williams to ensure that everyone knows this is a Williams movie, but the supporting cast are given some superb moments to help them stand out.

Whitaker is a real delight for every moment that he's onscreen, and he's the one helping to bring out the best in our lead while also reminding him of what he's really doing it all for, and Kirby, as unthinkable as it may seem, almost steals the entire movie with a comedic performance that is all the better for it not being played comedically (his character isn't funny, not intentionally, but he's constantly laughable). Sukapatan is fine, Tran is really good, and it's always a pleasure to watch Walsh onscreen, especially when he's delivering the kind of barely-controlled anger that he has here. Wuhl is good, Noble Willingham is enjoyable in his few scenes as the sympathetic Gen. Taylor, Richard Edson has the benefit of being onscreen alongside Kirby, adding to the comedy, and there's an amusingly camp turn from Cu Ba Nguyen as businessman/bar owner Jimmy Wah. I would not have believed that this was his first film acting role if I hadn't just quickly scanned through his filmography online.

Admittedly a bit tame compared to other films set during the Vietnam War, this is a nice way to shine a light on the whole debacle from a different angle. Making arbitrary rules and regulations about comedy and music is indicative of how arbitrary some (many?) of the military edicts are, especially during a conflict as chaotic and misjudged as the one in Vietnam. 

You'll probably revisit this one day while wanting to enjoy some classic Williams schtick, but you may be as pleasantly surprised as I was by all of the main supporting cast members, especially Whitaker and Kirby.

8/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews
Or Amazon is nice at this time of year - https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/Y1ZUCB13HLJD?ref_=wl_share 

Body Snatchers (1993)

Although not his usual kind of film, and it's unsurprising to see that this was originally due to be directed by one of the co-writers (Stuart Gordon, who I think would have also done a great job), director Abel Ferrara finds himself well-matched to the classic alien invasion story represented here, helped by the fact that the setting is now an army base, instead of any standard town or city.

Gabrielle Anwar plays Marti Malone, a young woman who has just arrived at another temporary home with her family, made up of her mother, Carol (Meg Tilly), her father, Steve (Terry Kinney), and a little brother named Andy (Reilly Murphy). Keen to have some fun, Marti soon ends up in trouble, but that's nothing compared to the trouble that she could be in if she becomes replicated by some alien invaders. Because if you're going to replicate humans without finding a way to ensure they also have access to emotions, there are few better places to do that than an army base.

Based on the Jack Finney story, reworked by a couple of people updating the premise (including Larry Cohen), the script here is finalised by Gordon, Dennis Paoli, and Nicholas St. John, and it's a 1993 movie that, for better or worse, feels like an '80s movie. There are some great practical effects throughout, there's a younger lead character than we have in any other film adaptation (up to this point), and the pacing helps the 87-minute runtime just fly by. There are also one or two moments that stand out for the wrong reasons, one showing the fate of a character that maybe should have been edited around the limitations of the time, but it's generally all working to an impressively high standard.

Ferrara handles the whole concept well, and he can build tension and craft scares so well that it makes you regret the fact that he didn't give us some more "straightforward" horror movies throughout the '80s and '90s. Maybe most movies coming under that genre umbrella wouldn't appeal to him as much as the premise here. After all, Ferrara has always tended to feel like an outsider, an uncompromising individual who would never make life easier for himself if it meant giving up something that he felt was intertwined with his DNA. If there’s any surprise here it is the fact that it took so long until Ferrara decided to work with this material.

Cast-wise, this is full of treats. Anwar is an appealing lead, a young star who never seemed to get the BIG role that would put her on a higher status level, and she works well alongside Billy Wirth, who plays a soldier/ally/believer ready to help humanity survive. And Christine Elise fans will enjoy her work here, despite her limited screentime. Murphy is a decent little brother, a more vulnerable character who manages not to be too clingy or annoying. Kinney may be the least of the adult stars, simply due to his character being the blandest, but there are many treats elsewhere, from the sly menace of Meg Tilly (who has long been a favourite of mine) to the standard stern military officer role for R. Lee Ermey. There’s also an enjoyable little turn from Forest Whitaker, another individual on the army base who starts to suspect that something strange is going on, and plans to avoid the fate of so many others.

Sadly all too often forgotten in favour of the previous films based on the Finney tale, Body Snatchers actually earns a place alongside both the 1956 and 1978 movies. It reworks things without trying to change it into something too far removed from the source material, has some nice scenes of gloopy terror, pairs up the visuals with a fine score from Joe Delia, and generally deserves to be better known than it is. It’s top-tier Ferrara, it’s just a step aside from most other movies that Ferrara has preferred to give viewers throughout most of his directorial career.

8/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

Netflix And Chill: Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (2020)

An old-fashioned musical for Christmas, that's what Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey is, and it's all the better for it. Writer-director David E. Talbert has delivered something that feels like a wonderful, comforting, pop-up book, and this has immediately become a film I can see myself wanting to visit every time December comes around.

Jeronicus Jangle is a kind and brilliant inventor. His latest toy, a small matador doll (Diego, voiced by Ricky Martin), will be the masterpiece that secures his name, and financial well-being. But Diego convinces the inventor's assistant, Gustafson, to take him away, along with a notebook full of invention ideas. It's then time to move forward thirty years, having seen Jeronicus lose his wife, grow estranged from his daughter, Jessica, and fail to recapture his spark of genius. Jessica has had her own child, Journey (Madalen Mills), and she ends up heading off to meet her grandfather (now played by Forest Whitaker). Journey and Jeronicus are quite similar in the way their brains see the world, much to the delight of young helper, Edison (Kieron L. Dyer). But the pressure is on to come up with a great invention and save the store, especially as Gustafson (now played by Keegan-Michael Key) continues to go from success to success, all thanks to that impressive notebook.

This has absolutely everything you could want from any Christmas movie looking to become a new firm favourite. The characters are memorable, the musical numbers are enjoyable, and well-choreographed, there are some great set-pieces, and everything takes part in a small, snow-covered, town that could easily be pictured on some classic Christmas-themed jigsaw puzzle.

Although not someone you may think of as being comfortable in this kind of role, Whitaker is a real delight. His character is a "bah, humbug" type, but more understandably so, due to the misfortune that has befallen him over the years. He may not be a natural for the moments of song, but that just makes it all better, because his character isn't inclined to want to sing beautiful melodies. Mills shines in her role, whether wandering around on her own or getting under her grandfather's feet, and I hope we see her build a decent little filmography in the next few years. Dyer is equally good, and enjoyably wide-eyed and impressed by so much of what he sees around him. Key and Martin do well as the main villains, a perfect combination of ruthlessness and comic incompetence (struggling to come up with another big idea when the notebook has been used up), and Lisa Davina Phillip is a real treat in the role of Ms. Johnston, a lady who delivers post and makes it clear that she'd like to find Jeronicus under some mistletoe and grab a kiss from him.

There are a few different lessons here, a main one being about patience, the whole story is framed by a wraparound that has a grandmother (Phylicia Rashad) talking to her grandchildren, and you get musical contributions from Philip Lawrence, John Legend, and Usher, to name a few. It's very hard to find something to criticise. I guess it's a bit TOO twee at times, which often happens with Christmas movies, but that's it.

Talbert can be very proud of his achievement here. It's a near-perfect modern Christmas classic. 

9/10

https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

Prime Time: Street Kings (2008)

Street Kings is a gritty cop thriller directed by David Ayer AND based on a story by James Ellroy so, basically, if you go into it expecting any of the main characters to be unselfishly trying to do good in a bad world then you've never experienced any previous stories from either man. But, just in case there was any doubt, the whole thing helps to let viewers know what they are in for when the main character gets beaten up by some criminals and has his car stolen, which we then discover is all part of a plan to allow him to find where the crooks are holed up, with young female kidnap victims being kept there until they can be moved/sold on, and he then gets to barge in, shooting to kill. It's a good deed, in the grand scheme of things, but it's also symptomatic of the way this character acts. He'd also had a couple of drinks beforehand. He wasn't interested in any due process. He is someone being watched with interest by those who investigate such individuals in the force.

All of this is just a taster to the rest of the film, of course, which follows Detective Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves) as he tries to keep doing the job the way he prefers to do it while keeping himself protected from the prying eyes of those who want him stopped. He's helped in this regard by his captain (Forest Whitaker). One of the people wanting him stopped is his ex-partner, Detective Terrence Washington (Terry Crews), and things start to look even stickier for Ludlow when he and Washington are caught in a seemingly random shoot-out. Washington is killed, and Ludlow wants to find those who did it. But those who know Ludlow's behaviour think it would be best for all concerned if the case was dropped and the shooters left to get themselves arrested or killed on some other occasion.

Although there are plenty of beats here that are very familiar to fans of Ayer's work, Street Kings does turn into something slightly different once it gets beyond the opening third act. It's still not a million miles away from anything else the director has done, but the more interesting developments stop it from feeling like nothing more than a tired rehash. You can feel the Ellroy heart beating through most of the runtime, once that opening act is out of the way, and the screenplay put together by Ellroy, Kurt Wimmer, and Jamie Moss is solid in terms of the plotting, pacing, and character development. That's not to say that it's always believable, not at all, but there's enough done to distract you from/let you forgive the less believable moments.

Reeves is very good in the lead role. He's not on top form, it's always a bit harder to believe him as someone with such a murky moral code, but he does well enough. Whitaker gives one of his standard turns, and is good enough, and Crews does enough to show himself as a viable threat to his ex-partner before the shooting takes him out of the film. The rest of the cast is full of great performers, although they are not all used as well as they could be. Chris Evans is the highlight, playing the detective in charge of the shooting investigation who ends up allowing Reeves to help him, and you also get Hugh Laurie with an American accent again, and Jay Mohr, John Corbett, and Amaury Nolasco playing the main colleagues who accept that getting the job done often means breaking some rules. Naomie Harris and Martha Higareda try their best, despite being given the usual short shrift that women tend to get in Ayer movies, and there are good little moments for Cedric The Entertainer, Common, and The Game.

Far from essential viewing, this remains a film I would highly recommend to those who like this particular subgenre. The various elements are well put together, it feels like something a bit different for Reeves, and the ending is surprisingly satisfying when everything eventually pays off.

7/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy it here.

June-Claude Van Damme: Bloodsport (1988)

*If you have deja vu, this review originally appeared on Flickfeast.co.uk*

Jean-Claude Van Damme was no overnight success, but audiences in the late ’80s and early ’90s may not have realised that. He’d gone from small parts in lesser movies (a couple of uncredited extra roles, including his scene from Breakin’, the part of "gay karate man" in a tame skin flick, and a villain – his biggest role – in the fun No Retreat, No Surrender) to ruling the action movie roost, mainly thanks to the one-two knockout of Bloodsport and Kickboxer.

Bloodsport is all about a martial arts tournament, The Kumite, in which various contestants use their various disciplines to try and defeat everyone else. It’s as simple as that. Each round is one on one, the last man standing wins. Van Damme is a man named Frank Dux (pronounced “Dukes”) who has taken leave from the military to participate. He wants to honour his master, much to the annoyance of the military folks who don’t want him to get majorly damaged. This means that Frank has to fight his fights while also staying out of the hands of the military men out to cut short his time in the tournament.

It’s hard to believe that it took three people – Sheldon Lettich, Christopher Cosby and Mel Friedman – to write this movie. It’s so simple, so by-the-numbers, that it doesn’t seem as if much effort was put into it at all. Of course, if it all seemed effortless then that would be quite a compliment, but that’s not quite what I mean. It seems as if a number of points had to be included in the story, but the structure is clumsy and lazy (with the flashbacks during the first third of the movie almost being enough to turn some viewers off, in my opinion).

Director Newt Arnold doesn’t have to break a sweat either, but he’s covered by the fact that he has Van Damme in the starring role. The man may have had his ups and downs over the years, but when he was near the top of the action star ladder he was damn good value. He’s given great support from Donald Gibb, playing a fellow fighter who becomes a friend, and the mighty Bolo Yeung is impressively villainous. Leah Ayres is the female reporter trying to get the scoop on the tournament, and Forest Whitaker and Norman Burton are the two army men assigned to retrieve our hero.

There’s a cheesy song or two on the soundtrack, one rousing track that’s actually quite decent, and at least three separate montage sequences (a training montage, a fighting montage and a “struggling with emotions externalised as clips from what viewers have just been watching” montage). But hey, despite these things, this remains a cracking action movie from the eighties, and one of the best star vehicles for the charismatic Van Damme.

8/10

This all-region blu is probably your best option.

Species (1995)

Species is a delirious b-movie given an (at the time, anyway) a-list cast. There are many ways in which the whole thing could be written off as complete nonsense unworthy of your time, and I'm sure that many people feel that way, but there are also many ways in which it just keeps piling on the fun until viewers give in and go along with the whole ridiculousness of it all.

The plot is all about contact with alien intelligence. Yep, scientists searching for extraterrestrial life have hit paydirt but this isn't so much a flowing dialogue as it is a fractured exchange of ideas. Earth has been sending up a message for a long time now and aliens finally respond with a formula that leads to a great new energy source. The second message from somewhere out in the universe contains information about alien DNA and how to splice it with human DNA. So the science folk give it a go. They end up with a young girl (Sil, played by Michelle Williams). Sadly, when Sil starts displaying some worrying behaviour in her sleep it's decided that the project must end. Which means destroying Sil with cyanide. Sil doesn't like that plan and escapes, just in time for her body to change as she metamorphasises into her adult form (Natasha Henstridge). She needs to be found and stopped so a team is assembled consisting of an anthropologist (Alfred Molina), an empath (Forrest Whitaker), a molecular biologist (Marg Helgenberger) and a mercenary (Michael Madsen). They are given their instructions by the team leader Xavier Fitch (Ben Kingsley) and the hunt is on. Meanwhile, the rapidly-maturing Sil starts to get broody.

Roger Donaldson directs from a script by Dennis Feldman that throws a few smart lines in with a number of laughable clunkers (the context of the moment that has Forrest Whitaker saying "something . . . . bad . . . happened here" remains one of my favourite unintentional laughs ever). Yet it seems clear throughout that all involved knew how preposterous the core idea was - a gorgeous alien is on the prowl for a mate while a group of folks try to get to her in time - and had a lot of fun with it.

The whole movie is lifted immensely by the presence of the gorgeous Natasha Henstridge in the lead role, as averse to clothing as she is beautiful. The rest of the cast all get to have at least one or two great moments - whether they are supporting actors being seduced by Henstridge, Whitakler and Molina enjoying a number of Long Island Iced Teas, Kingsley trying to stay cool and calm under increasing pressure, Helgenberger flirting with Madsen or Madsen just being a cool hardass.

But the big bonus that the movie has is the presence of the great H. R. Giger in the design department. Yes, the visionary who gave us the main creations in the Alien universe here lends his considerable talents to a project that sees him creating something equally arresting, even if the surrounding movie isn't quite the horror classic that the Ridley Scott film was. Not every film making use of such talent needs to be a classic and Species doesn't pretend to be anything more than it is - a gloriously demented, sexy, sci-fi horror with some great (and not so great) effects here and there, some enjoyable nastiness and a great main character.

8/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Species-Special-Edition-DVD/dp/B0002ADWYY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1347484116&sr=8-3