[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Havoc.]

Summary

The Netflix film ‘Havoc’ follows Detective Walker as he navigates a corrupt underworld, tasked with saving a politician’s son.

Director Gareth Evans drew inspiration from Hong Kong action films for the gunplay-heavy action sequences in ‘Havoc.’

Tom Hardy discusses the challenges of shooting intense action sequences and praises Evans’ unique approach to storytelling.

From writer/director Gareth Evans, the Netflix action thriller Havoc follows Walker (Tom Hardy), a detective surrounded by a criminal underworld that includes a crime syndicate, a crooked politician, and his fellow cops. A deadbeat father and corrupt cop himself, Walker is tasked with tracking down and delivering the son of a crooked Mayoral candidate, who has himself and his girlfriend caught up in a drug deal gone wrong. The title of the movie perfectly encapsulates the events of the story, as Walker tries to fight his way through and shoot his way out of everything he comes up against. The film also stars Jessie Mei Li, Forest Whitaker, Timothy Olyphant, Justin Cornwell, Quelin Sepulveda, and Luis Guzmán.
During this interview with Collider, Hardy and Evans talked about what inspired the action style for Havoc, just how bloody things got, the most challenging sequence to shoot, and how Evans likes to stay firmly locked into an ending that he’s working toward. Hardy also talked about the impression The Raid made on him when he saw it, while Evans talked about how, even though he has fond memories of making the film, he still sees what he could have done better or differently.
‘Havoc’ Was Inspired by Gareth Evans’ Love of Hong Kong Action Films of the ’80s and ’90s

“That was a major guiding light in terms of designing this film.”

Image via Netflix

Collider: It seems like there is no better title for this movie, since you really are unleashing havoc from start to finish. Gareth, how would you say this movie compares to your previous work than the amount of blood needed to throw around on set? Do you feel like it has the most?
GARETH EVANS: I don’t know. We had rivers of it in Apostle, at one point. In comparison to my previous stuff in the past, when we did The Raid films, that was much more fixated and focused on martial arts as a discipline with the style of the action. With this, it’s much more gunplay. There’s obviously a physicality, but not the clean-flowing, rhythmic, martial arts style. It’s much more blunt force and aggressive and dramatic. It has much more in common with my love of the Hong Kong action films of the ‘80s and ‘90s from John Woo and Ringo Lam than it does with Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung. That was a major guiding light in terms of designing this film.
It still feels like it would have been a little messy for quite a bit of this shoot. Tom, what is that like to have to deal with while you’re also trying to look cool in an action sequence?
TOM HARDY: The last couple of weeks, I was covered in jam. From post shack to the train tracks was jammy.

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Gareth, I became aware of you as a filmmaker with The Raid and I was blown away by the way you crafted that. When you look back on or think about that film now, after everything you’ve done and learned as a filmmaker since then, do you wish you could change anything with it? Is there anything you would have done differently, or are you still happy with that film the way it is?
EVANS: Oh, all the time. Every single film that you make, at some point, there’s a moment where you have to abandon it. You have to stop, set down the tools, let it be, let it exist, and let it go out into the world. Whenever I see The Raid now, I have a lot of fond memories of making it, and fond memories of certain sequences and certain scenes. But I think everything I do, you look back upon it and you start thinking, “Hmm, I could have cut that scene better. I could have pushed this more. I could have tried this differently.” I think that’s healthy. It’s a constant desire for progression and a constant desire to not assume that what you’ve done can’t be improved upon. I think everything we do can be improved upon. And so, I have a lot of fond memories of those films, but I still go back and look at them and think, “I could cut this.”
From Watching ‘The Raid,’ Tom Hardy Knew Pulling Off the Action for ‘Havoc’ Would Be Intense

“I really enjoyed it because of the simplicity of the story and the location.”

Tom, when did you first see The Raid and what was your reaction to it? How did that get you excited about Gareth Evans, as a filmmaker?
HARDY: I saw it quite a few years ago. It’s been about four years since we worked on this. I really enjoyed it because of the simplicity of the story and the location and how much material and nuance was in a physical space of basically three or four floors. It’s a convention of layers. I’m also a bit of a computer game fan, so I know how hard it is to complete levels. As things get progressively harder in that film, you get closer to the desperation of a human being’s flight, as is mine to complete a game. And so, I was drawn into it in a way where I felt part of that journey in a very visceral but primal way because it’s simplified. It’s a very simple story. It’s not pages and pages of dialogue that I had to keep up with and complex concepts that are explained and articulated with perfect assonance and alliteration and balance and rhyming couplets. I’m literally looking at symbolism and concepts in dynamic kinetic action, in much the same way as animation and comic books can convey a huge amount of nuance in a very short space of time. What happens in a few hours becomes an epic journey. I knew I’d be in trouble when I worked with him, which I was.
You’re really setting your own vibe right now, with Havoc and MobLand both being out at the same time and both being directed by badass filmmakers. Did you see any similarities in approach with Gareth Evans and Guy Ritchie, or are they very different to work with?
HARDY: Everybody is very different. Every director is different. The similarities may be that they have cameras, they have camera crews in departments, they have DPs, they have conventions that they have to follow that they understand to be at work on a film set, and they have a budget. What do you do with your budget? It’s a lot of pressure and responsibility if you’re offered X amount to deliver Y. Directors start with a piece that they’ve either written or they’ve inherited from somebody else, which they then have to turn into something that has not been fully realized until it’s released and abandoned into the world. Those are the similarities in pattern. They’re very different people with very different processes, apart from the fact that we all turn up to work and shoot.

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Which do you think will be more likely to happen first, Season 2 of Taboo or Mad Max: The Wasteland?
HARDY: Season 2 of Taboo.
Did you guys have a most challenging sequence to shoot for this?
EVANS: Logistically, the most complex is probably the Medusa sequence because it was the biggest action sequence that I’ve taken on, with regard to the multiple POVs and a set build that was so specific to the choreography. That required so much heavy lifting, literally, from the art department, in terms of what was required from them on a design level. Also, there’s the fact that it spills out into the streets and becomes vehicle work and the chaos and energy of that. That one, for me, was probably the most taxing and difficult sequence to put together.
HARDY: I didn’t really feel the challenge that Gareth had because he was coordinating. I’m literally there to fit a bathroom. He’s built the house. He’s the architect and the grand master of it all. I’m literally just, “Where do you want the water taps, mate?” It’s a bit of a coloring-in exercise for me. That’s what I do, as an actor. You just have to tell me what you want, and I’ll try to get it for you, in whatever style we agree on and that feels authentic. I didn’t have that pressure that he had. I was following. Trying to get ahead of understanding what the next bit would be, and the next bit, and the next bit, and the next bit, the days add up. You get through it, and you’re watching the dailies and going, “Oh, we’ve added that in now.” It’s put together like a jigsaw puzzle. You start to see it transmute from the pre-vis, which is a pre-existing and pre-recorded animated element of each sequence in place of the real footage that gets added in, into the real edit, and it’s pretty close.
EVANS: Yeah, it’s almost exactly.
HARDY: He’s not shooting fish in a barrel and then editing. He’s being specific about where the camera is and where that stops and starts. It really does come in, in real time.
EVANS: On a day-by-day basis.
HARDY: It’s like doing a jigsaw puzzle. You see it come to life.
Director Gareth Evans Wanted an Iconic Ending for ‘Havoc’

“I always knew what the final shot would be.”

Image via Netflix

Gareth, did you always know the ending you wanted for this? Were you very clear about what the ending would be, or did it go through an evolution?
EVANS: I’ve usually got a good sense of what the ending of a film should be. It’s something to aim towards, and it helps the development of a script and a storyline. I always have a rough idea of what it’s going to be. Obviously, as you develop the character further, and you understand more about them and you understand, especially for this, what secrets they’re harboring or traumas they’ve got hidden, that adds more weight to what that final scene would be. Roughtly, I always knew, from the get-go, what that final shot would be and how I wanted to end it. I feel like nailing an ending is massively important. I’ve always tried to find an iconic way to end all my films, whether it be The Raid or The Raid 2 or Apostle or Havoc. It’s always something that I tend to know while I’m in the midst of writing and try to stay firmly locked in on what that is going to be.

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“You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.”

Please work together again soon on another project.
HARDY: We’re doing a musical next.
EVANS: Yeah, we’re doing a musical next. We’ve decided.
I know you’re not being serious, but I would watch that.

Havoc

Release Date

April 24, 2025

Runtime

105 minutes

Director

Gareth Evans

Writers

Gareth Evans

Producers

Tom Hardy, Ed Talfan, Aram Tertzakian

Havoc is available to stream on Netflix. Check out the trailer: