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

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V/H/S/2 (2013)

A horror anthology sequel to V/H/S, as if you couldn't guess, V/H/S/2 follows the template set by the first movie. Some people enter a house and start checking out videotapes, only to find some very disturbing footage. This time around, however, the people investigating are actual private investigators, as opposed to the unruly louts of the first film, and there's even some added explanation given to why VHS is the preferred format (an explanation that was in place for the first movie, though never explicitly detailed, according to interviews I read at the time with some of the film-makers).

There are four tales this time, instead of five, and they are as follows:
1) Adam Wingard plays a man who receives a bionic eye implant, a small camera. When he heads home it's not long until he's seeing things that shouldn't be there. Is the eye faulty, or is it working far better than envisaged?
2) A cyclist, filming his ride with a helmet-cam, gets caught up in a zombie outbreak in the middle of some woods.
3) A number of investigative reporters are allowed in to the premises of a secretive cult. Unfortunately, they're allowed in just as the people inside are preparing for their own warped rapture.
4) A slumber party is interrupted by malevolent aliens.

The cast members here aren't as important as the directors, or even the format itself. I'm sorry to let them down so abruptly, that's just the way of it. This movie, and the one preceding it, is all about utilising the found footage form most effectively, while also allowing for modern versions of traditional horror premises to be played out. Simon Barrett, Jason Eisener and Adam Wingard return, joined this time by Gregg Hale, Eduardo Sanchez, Timo Tjahjanto and Gareth Evans.

While the movie, overall, is a slight step down from the first movie, mainly due to a lack of originality with the story ideas, there aren't any tales that stand out as being the worst of the bunch. Most people tend to find the third tale, "Safe Haven", the best, which should please Evans and Tjahjanto, and while the others may suffer slightly in comparison, they're not awful. Well, not to me anyway.

If you liked V/H/S then you should like this. Be warned, there's plenty of shaky-cam throughout. Thankfully, the pace and scares, albeit mainly jump scares, make it worth suffering through the more jittery moments.

7/10

http://www.amazon.com/V-H-S-2-Blu-ray/dp/B00DI012QA/ref=sr_1_4?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1402687894&sr=1-4&keywords=vhs+2