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It's been long that I have seen a movie answering its title. The recent movie I saw just to end my three weeks holiday as released by Netflix on April 25, 2025 really answered for its title and the title is HAVOC. An action thriller movie written and directed by Gareth Evans.
The movie featured characters that really played their roles to the thrill of their audience. Characters as featured in the movie includes, Walker, a homicide detective, we also have Ellie who was a rookie to Walker.
Also, we have characters like Charlie, Mia, Lawrence, Mother, who happened to be the head of the drug gang called Triad and her son whose name was Tsui, we have ching. Also not to forget the narcotics team that comprises Vincent, Johnny and Wes. All these characters really performed the various assigned roles given to them.
The movie is all about betrayal, murder, corruption, drug trafficking, and snitching as can be seen in the system being run by the police in the movie. We also have elements of revenge in the movie, mass killings cannot be sidetalked when it comes to the movie Havoc and there's much havoc being wrecked on people and properties in the movie.
THE PLOT/REVIEW:
The movie started on a narrative mode where one of the major characters in the person of Walker narrated to us what choice is all about. He made the watcher know what choices entailed and this narration really prepared me and others to what's expected of the movie.
After the narrative scene, we were drafted to the next scene which was about chasing a truck conveying a stolen washing machine where hard drugs were hidden for delivery. This scene had in it, characters like Charlie, Mia and others trying to escape with the stolen products. It's in this scene that so many properties were destroyed and even in the process of the chase, a cop named Cortez, a close ally of Walker sustained deadly injuries.
He was injured and taken to the hospital for treatment. This particular scene is a criminal one and for people to be murdered shows that people can go to any length to achieve their deadly mission as can be seen in the way those people that stole the product used the washing to hit the cop cars in order to stop them from pursuing them.
Still on the review, the dastardly acts where people were being murdered by those masked men that came for the drug was terrible and it's in the scene that Tsui and some of his allies were killed in their cold blood. The assailant came fully armed and killed all who were present at the scene except Ching, who had been told to leave the scene before the assailant swung into action.
Though he was supposed to be loyal to Tsui, but instead of being loyal to him, he swung his loyalty to the assailant just for the unsettled dispute between him and the head of the Triad which was not known to the mother and her son. They thought he was still loyal to them, not knowing he was not. He escaped death as a result of his loyalty to the deadly gang and also because of his dealing with them on the drug transaction in which he stands to gain more by finding a buyer for the drugs rather than for the Triad and Tsui to get it.
Also, both Charlie and Mia were also able to escape death by a whisker. They would have also been killed if not for those guys that were left in the car by them when they were to deliver the drug to the cartel. Those guys were the one who tipped them with the needed information that made them escape. Here, we can see the power of information. Had it been they were not informed beforehand, they would have been killed in the resulting gun duel.
Also, the main character's family issue was also made known to the audience. This was made known through his conversation with his wife. In their ensued conversation, we were made to know that Walker was not as responsible as he's supposed to be, though, he was trying to resolve the issue and make peace with his family and most especially have access to his daughter, but all to no avail. But it's in the process that he was drawn to investigate the crime scene. The lesson here is that we should always strike a balance between family and work.
It's on his way with his rookie that they were being asked to go to the crime scene. At the crime scene, they did their work diligently with a series of flashbacks and imaginations from Walker on how the incident took place. They were able to get leads on who the assailants were. At first they thought it's the handiwork of Charlie, which was a wrong lead, but it's at the scene that they realized that the gun shots were more than that of a pistol, but that of rifles. But how would they take Charlie out of the storm as his picture was in the mix already. The smartness on the part of the detectives cannot be overemphasized in this scene.
As a result of Charlie's involvement in the criminal acts being perpetrated. Walker, who was known to be loyal to Lawrence, Charlie's father left the scene and went to Lawrence's place, it's there he narrated everything to Lawrence, but they struck a deal and he promised Lawrence the safety of his son, Charlie. There's betrayal everywhere in the movie.
So, it's in the process of searching for Lawrenece that he got to know what happened and who the assailants were. He got to know this when he was at a club to get Charlie via his girlfriend Mia at a club house. The acts of diligence on the part of Walker can be seen by all.
At the club house, Mia identified Vicent and his cohort as the killer of Tsui. And after the identification, a fierce battle ensued between all the factions involved which comprises the Triad, the police narcotic team and Walker. Many people were killed including Raul who has been taking care of Mia for a long time. This scene was also a criminal scene with traitors such as Vincent and his cohort being identified and this really helped Walker in knowing whom to wage his war against. Having a traitor in a government agency can be so bad for the government and this can be seen in the movie Havoc.
So, after the incident at the club house, Walker was able to rescue Charlie and his girlfriend Mia to his father abandoned cabin and even when they believe they were safe at the cabin, they were being tracked to the cabin and there's a gun battle between the triad team and the Walker and his team, the Triad were killed in their scores and it's later that The head of the triad also known as mother, the mother of the murdered Tsui came him with Lawrence whom he has sent his team to captured in his motorcade after they have killed his members of staff.
When they came, Mother as she's fondly called gave him a gun to kill his son's girlfriend, but his son pleaded with him not to do so, but as he was about to do that, Ellie came with the arrested Ching who at the hospital killed Cortez and his wife and cop traitors. It's here the truths were revealed and at this same scene, many people were also killed in the ensuing gun battle.
Among them were Lawrence, the head of the Triad and his loyalist by the traitor Ching. Ching was also killed alongside his allies. But as Vincent was about to escape with the narcotics, he was killed by Walker and it's there Walker and Ellie talked, they had a discussion after she had freed Charlie and Mia just before the arrival of the police. Walker told her to get him arrested and she did not arrest him before the police came in.
One thing about life is truth will always be revealed, no matter how long the lie might have been. This can be seen in the movie as the truth was later revealed at the end.
The movie is an action thriller movie and it's very interesting with the cinematography being top notch. Its major themes are that of betrayal and corruption. I would like to watch it over and again.
RATING:
I will give the movie 7/10.
Thanks for reading.
Poster picture sourced.
All other images are screenshots from the movie
