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The Sun
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Gareth Evans' Havoc review: A flawed crime thriller
AFTER a long hiatus following 2018's folk horror film Apostle, Gareth Evans returns to the world of crime and action with Havoc, a film that truly lives up to its name, for better or worse. Evans, more popularly known for the cult favourite Indonesian martial arts duology The Raid and The Raid: Berandal from a decade ago, has shown that he is still at the top of the game when it comes to directing action flicks. However, his skill in taking on drama and writing have inexplicably fallen off hard. A contrived mess, Havoc concerns a group of thieves led by Charlie Beaumont (Justin Cornwell) stealing washing machines before grievously injuring a narcotics detective following a lengthy vehicle pursuit. In Evans' escalatingly convoluted story, Charlie's group tries to sell the drugs inside the washing machines to Tsui, the son of a powerful triad leader. This too goes awry, as a second group of antagonists with assault rifles and hockey masks show up, leading to Tsui and countless others dying. Dirty homicide detective Patrick Walker (Tom Hardy) is then tasked by the mayoral candidate of Havoc's unnamed American city, Lawrence (Forest Whitaker), to find Charlie – his estranged son – before the police and triad get to him. No Raid revival in sight Though Evans seems to have put The Raid franchise to bed, most of the writer-director's fans are still expecting some sort of follow-up to his Indonesian films, which many in movie circles agree started the modern renaissance for martial arts and action films – after 2011's The Raid, countless action films such as John Wick began to sprout up sharing the same DNA as Evans' films. For anyone expecting Evans' latest to be a spiritual follow-up to The Raid, you can rest easy because Havoc is not that film. That is not to say the film is terrible, but it is as decent as a Netflix film can reasonably get. It even feels wrong to put Havoc in the same sentence as The Raid, due to the film's meagre amount of action sequences. Having to stomach the bulk of the film just to savour the two or so slivers of Evans' signature style of action filmmaking is simply not worth it. To make matters worse, they are not very long and are spaced far apart, while the best of the two occurs in the third act, taking place in a cabin as Hardy is put through a gauntlet of nameless goons that end with roughly 50 people beaten, knifed, slashed, harpooned and shot to death. It is a great sequence – a final hurrah true to Evans' style that only slightly makes up for the rest of Havoc's story involving generic dirty cops, witless robbers and personality-free crime families. Havoc is streaming on Netflix.
The Sun
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Havoc unleashes contrived mess
AFTER a long hiatus following 2018's folk horror film Apostle, Gareth Evans returns to the world of crime and action with Havoc, a film that truly lives up to its name, for better or worse. Evans, more popularly known for the cult favourite Indonesian martial arts duology The Raid and The Raid: Berandal from a decade ago, has shown that he is still at the top of the game when it comes to directing action flicks. However, his skill in taking on drama and writing have inexplicably fallen off hard. A contrived mess, Havoc concerns a group of thieves led by Charlie Beaumont (Justin Cornwell) stealing washing machines before grievously injuring a narcotics detective following a lengthy vehicle pursuit. In Evans' escalatingly convoluted story, Charlie's group tries to sell the drugs inside the washing machines to Tsui, the son of a powerful triad leader. This too goes awry, as a second group of antagonists with assault rifles and hockey masks show up, leading to Tsui and countless others dying. Dirty homicide detective Patrick Walker (Tom Hardy) is then tasked by the mayoral candidate of Havoc 's unnamed American city, Lawrence (Forest Whitaker), to find Charlie – his estranged son – before the police and triad get to him. No Raid revival in sight Though Evans seems to have put The Raid franchise to bed, most of the writer-director's fans are still expecting some sort of follow-up to his Indonesian films, which many in movie circles agree started the modern renaissance for martial arts and action films – after 2011's The Raid, countless action films such as John Wick began to sprout up sharing the same DNA as Evans' films. For anyone expecting Evans' latest to be a spiritual follow-up to The Raid, you can rest easy because Havoc is not that film. That is not to say the film is terrible, but it is as decent as a Netflix film can reasonably get. It even feels wrong to put Havoc in the same sentence as The Raid, due to the film's meagre amount of action sequences. Having to stomach the bulk of the film just to savour the two or so slivers of Evans' signature style of action filmmaking is simply not worth it. To make matters worse, they are not very long and are spaced far apart, while the best of the two occurs in the third act, taking place in a cabin as Hardy is put through a gauntlet of nameless goons that end with roughly 50 people beaten, knifed, slashed, harpooned and shot to death. It is a great sequence – a final hurrah true to Evans' style that only slightly makes up for the rest of Havoc 's story involving generic dirty cops, witless robbers and personality-free crime families.
Time Out
29-04-2025
- Time Out
This spiritual pilgrimage in Spain is the world's best hike – here's why
When I set off on my first Camino, I too thought it was just a hike. I'd heard about it two years prior from a friend who'd recently been on pilgrimage. 'It's this 500-mile walk across Spain,' he said. 'You get to see the entire country's landscape change before you and drink amazing wine, and there's hostels all along the way especially for pilgrims that serve huge meals for super cheap, and you'll meet so many incredible people from all around the world.' His feverish excitement fed mine, but if I'm completely honest, it was the phrase 500-mile walk that enamoured me. A month-long self-guided hike along a well-frequented path sounded like a doable challenge. That, and the convenience of an affordable trip to Europe made it perfect for my first-ever solo international journey. The walk he'd been speaking about was the Camino Francés. One of many Caminos de Santiago – literally Ways of Saint James – this one begins in the French Pyrenees, traversing red-dirt wine country, a sun-baked grain belt, and evergreen highlands on its way to northwest Spain. Over 240,000 trod it in 2024, making it the most popular route among the year's 400,000 peregrinos on record. Other Ways, like the Camino Portugués and the Camino del Norte, follow the coastlines, while the Camino de Madrid and Vía de la Plata pass fortified Arabesque hilltop cities and the inland plains separating the north from southern commercial centres. 'Even witless walkers can't avoid the Camino's profound experiences' While it's known today as a Catholic pilgrimage, the Way existed long before the Church enshrined what it claimed were James the Apostle's remains at Santiago de Compostela. For centuries, it served as a route to Finisterre – or Land's End – on the Atlantic coast, where Druids and Romans prayed to their own gods. Pilgrims who'd tasted the sea's salty air carried scallop shells back home, and today, shell markings guide travelers along their journey. I learned all this later of course. Legends travel like wind on the Camino, and I heard of enchantments like a fountain that runs with wine and an iron cross that makes the weight you carry lighter. I then drank from that fountain and lightened my load. Many pilgrims come seeking self-growth, healing, and miracles, but thanks to its 2,000-year heritage as a spiritual quest, even witless walkers like me who think they've come for mere sport can't avoid the Camino's profound experiences. I've now walked it three times. I've yet to meet a pilgrim who's not felt their sense of self shifted by the time they reached the Pórtico da Gloria where the road ends. Unlike other hikes, the Camino did not challenge me against the wilderness, but against my own will. Despite trying every preventative measure imaginable, my feet blew up with blisters every time, and each day I had to make the painful decision to keep walking. I weighed the importance of my belongings, knowing it'd be my own demise if I carried too much baggage. In recent years, it's become possible to ship your backpack along daily for a nominal fee, but I'd argue this easy out is environmentally unsustainable and denies you the transformative reward of letting go of your burdens once you reach Santiago. 'While intrinsically contemplative, the Camino is also inherently social' The Camino's wonders outweighed its woes. Like finding the perfect walking stick. Or receiving a homemade meal from someone who didn't even speak my language. Or stumbling upon an open-air farmhouse where modern-day nomads lived off the land, offering pilgrims plump fruit, fresh juice, and a place to rest in their bedouin shelter. While intrinsically contemplative (most pilgrims walk 10–20 miles a day), the Camino is also inherently social. I'm shy by nature, but on a long and lonesome road where everyone had the same destination, I couldn't help spilling my secrets to strangers. Time warped while walking eight-hour stretches together. Days turned into lifetimes and strangers into age-old friends. A retiree from Basque once found a hat I'd lost and carried it for two weeks until our paths crossed again. While wearing low-top shoes that squished my toes, I met a girl with the same size feet whose wide-toed boots were bruising her ankles — when we swapped, we were like two Cinderellas who'd found their Prince Charmings. Whether you walk with a deeper purpose or not, the Camino works on you. On my first Camino – coming from a skeptical, and sometimes downright pessimistic, atheology – I found myself believing in a higher power: I'd experienced too many happy coincidences for there not to have been someone, or some thing, looking out for me. On my second Camino, I walked with a partner, testing our ardour against the arduous road. On my third Camino, I set off with a fellowship of pilgrims whose tribe mentality pushed me to break out on my own. Each Camino taught me its own lesson of trust – in God, in my fellow man, then in myself. We peregrinos often remind each other: 'Everyone must walk their own Camino,' and if you, too, choose to walk this path, you'll create your own challenges and bring your own worries. But there are so many people to help you along the way. So much beautiful scenery to breathe in. So much timeless tradition in which to enrobe yourself. So many tapas and tortillas and tintos. And finally, there is the unparalleled strength of body and peace of mind when you reach Santiago.
Wales Online
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
'I had a boring nine to five job in Cardiff, now I make Hollywood films with Tom Hardy'
'I had a boring nine to five job in Cardiff, now I make Hollywood films with Tom Hardy' Gareth Evans has just made feature film Havoc for Netflix which stars Tom Hardy and Forest Whitaker Gareth Evans has brought Apostle, Gangs of London and now Havoc to Wales (Image: WireImage ) Film director Gareth Evans is discussing his love for Swansea's Gower coastline a short walk from his home in the idyllic quiet spot in an accent so muddled it's hard to tell whether he's British or American, let alone Welsh. 'If we were in a pub with my mates my accent would slip right back in,' he laughs. 'When I was in Indonesia no one understood a word I was f***ing saying. There's now almost a weird version of my accent which comes out when I'm doing things like this. But I can be as Valleys as they come.' The action fanatic from Hirwaun moved back to Wales in 2015 after a life-changing few years in Indonesia which involved a chance meeting with a then largely unknown martial artist which would put them both on the path to stardom. Article continues below Gareth was schooled at Penderyn Primary and the Vaynor and Penderyn High in Cefn Coed, Caerphilly borough during which time he was most concerned with his idols Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. After finishing his studies at the University of South Wales he embarked on a trip to Indonesia in the hope something would soon drop for him in filmmaking, but he never expected it to go quite as well as it did. 'As a kid I just wanted to be Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan,' he tells WalesOnline ahead of the release of his latest bonkers Netflix film Havoc starring Tom Hardy and Forest Whitaker which was entirely filmed in Wales. 'I quickly realised I was terrible at acting and even worse at martial arts. The next best thing was writing scripts, so that's what I did.' He was nine when he scribbled his first film script onto several sheets of paper which his father - then a teacher at Bishop Hedley School in Merthyr Tydfil - had printed and laminated using the dot matrix printer in the school's computer lab. 'Looking back, I realise how my parents were always encouraging me to pursue my dreams,' Gareth recalls. 'From their perspective at the time maybe it was a bit of a pipe dream but they never said anything other than 'go for it'. It's been a step by step process helped by a lot of work but also a lot of good fortune and brilliant timing. "When I left university, I had the wild idea of heading to Hollywood. Instead I ended up doing a nine-to-five job in Cardiff making educational CD ROMs. But I was making the odd video too, and my boss was very supportive of my filmmaking ambitions - allowing me to take a few months off so I could make my first feature film which was self-funded." Tom Hardy, who plays the main role in Havoc as a dodgy police officer, took some persuading but Gareth got him on board in the end (Image: Getty Images ) It was during his early days in Indonesia when he met martial artist Iko Uwais who he saw performing at his master's dojo in Jakarta. Gareth, who had been filming for a documentary on the martial arts discipline of silat, was inspired by Iko's talent and immediately asked him if he'd consider making a film with him. 'I didn't go to Indonesia with any intention at all to make a martial arts film,' Gareth explains. 'I had never had the intention to make a film. I was there for a documentary and I was more interested in French arthouse. But when I met Iko the martial arts world was something which sort of presented itself to me. Watching Iko perform this intricate display, the penny dropped and I knew immediately I needed to make a film with him. It changed our lives and changed everything for the both of us. He's gone on to have an incredible career.' As has Gareth. Havoc, which was released on Friday, is his fifth feature film after Merantau, The Raid, Raid 2, and Apostle - the majority of which was shot in Margam Park, Port Talbot. He also directed the TV series Gangs of London in Cardiff and he now has a collaborative deal with Netflix. Havoc, an action thriller, stars Tom Hardy as 'morally dubious' police officer Walker who is on a mission to rescue a politician's drug-dealing son from almost certain death at the hands of an angry gang boss. It is set against the backdrop of New York but features Swansea, Port Talbot, and Cardiff while most of the internal scenes were filmed at the Great Point Studios in St Mellons. 'We created a hell of a lot in the studios; alleyways, bits of China town, the nightclub,' Gareth explains. 'Tom Pearce, our production designer who I worked with on Apostle, did an incredible job. A lot of the locations were filmed in Port Talbot and Swansea. We shot a lot at the train tracks in Baglan and there are bits of Cardiff Bay throughout the movie if you look closely. We transformed Bute Street quite fundamentally. We also filmed a lot at Brangwyn Hall in Swansea and at the new university campus at Fabian Way.' Tom Hardy pictured with Barry Island Pleasure Park owner Henry Danter in the summer of 2021 when Hardy was in Wales filming Havoc (Image: Barry Island Pleasure Park/Facebook ) Scenes across Wales to look out for in Havoc Seren Stiwdios, Cardiff Pierhead Building, Cardiff AB Ports, Cardiff Bute Street, Cardiff (Production turned a typical Cardiff street into an American Boulevard, with a foot of snow Trade Street, Cardiff Crockherbtown Lane, Cardiff Bay Campus, Swansea University (Scene where Forest Whitaker's character gets attacked in the car) Brangwyn Hall, Swansea Kon-Tiki Bar, Swansea The Strand, Swansea Proud Mary, Swansea Evening Post, Cambrian House, Swansea Dragon Studios, Bridgend Candleston Woods, Bridgend Baglan Bay Train, Port Talbot (Filming of the climax of the film) 11 Lynmouth Drive, Sully News of a big production hit the headlines when Hardy was pictured in Barry Island by tourists that summer during his stay in Wales. Pleasure park staff were more stunned that Hardy turned up again later in the same week for another day on the rides. 'Tom enjoyed Barry Island. He was a big fan,' Gareth laughs. 'Forest Whitaker would go off and discover the Welsh coastlines. It was nice for us to be able to share stories about work and experiences but then for me to share a little bit of the Welsh culture and landscape with them as well.' A picture of Whitaker at the Bosherston lily ponds in Pembrokeshire also went viral. 'I left for Indonesia at a time when the film industry in Wales was just about to kick off,' Gareth says. 'There was always a bit of a niggle that I felt I hadn't established myself in my own hometown. So that was the plan when I came back to do Apostle. When I came back to Wales in 2015 I met with my producing partner Ed Talfan and the experience of creating Apostle here was transformative for me. It was so professional. The crew was incredible, very hardworking, it was off the charts. Shooting Gangs of London here was a testing moment where I got to try out the idea of shooting what I was accustomed to shooting in Indonesia in Wales. 'When you look around Wales the country has so many amazing opportunities location wise. Wales has a little bit of everything. We have the mountains and the countryside as well as the urban cityscapes. We have the old period buildings as well as the modern techy buildings. We've also had so much support from the Welsh government and councils. They've closed roads when we've needed to, they've let us use their spaces. We're very grateful. More of the same please.' Gareth on the set out Raid 2 (Image: Wales on Sunday ) Article continues below Hardy took some persuading to take on the role of Walker which involved eight four-hour video calls. 'We finished the script and then we had news come in from his reps saying he was free. Our paths had almost crossed a few times. He'd been a fan of The Raid and Raid 2 and so this opening appeared and he responded to us sending the script. He wanted to meet us to get to know the tone of the film. It was eight calls which were four hours long chatting endlessly about who Walker was, what his relationships were. He wanted to know everything about the intricacies of the character idea and the film. I'd never discussed a character and a film in that much detail before just to get someone to sign. It was crazy. It actually made my job much easier in terms of directing him because we understood each other perfectly on set.' Gareth was most enthused during the shooting of his latest film that he was able to commute home to his family after a day on set - pretty unusual in the world of filmmaking. 'Being in Swansea near the coast is lovely,' he says. 'My brother lives in Swansea and I wanted to be close to him. We were always super close as kids and the worst part of being in Indonesia was not being able to see him when I wanted to, although he did come out to see me a couple of times. 'I have a lot of fond memories of Swansea as a kid because we would always go with mam and dad. I've been in Swansea for nine years now and I never, ever take it for granted; the scenery, the views, the short walk to the beach. Nostalgia kicks in every time I do that walk. Every time I pass the summer chalets and I go back to being six or seven in the back of dad's car.'
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Long-Awaited ‘Havoc' Trailer Sees Tom Hardy Causing Chaos
'Havoc' is finally here. Almost. The underworld thriller starring Tom Hardy was announced back in 2021 and it arrives on Netflix on April 25. And now you can watch the brand-new, bone-crunching teaser below. 'Havoc' hails from writer/director Gareth Evans, who wrote and directed modern action classics 'The Raid' and 'The Raid 2.' His last film was the underrated 2018 Netflix folk horror film 'Apostle,' starring Dan Stevens as a man searching for his missing sister on an island gripped by a strange cult. He also co-created 'Gangs of London,' the cult series based on the PlayStation game. The official logline for 'Havoc' reads: 'Walker (Tom Hardy) is a bruised detective fighting his way through the criminal underworld threatening to engulf his entire city. In the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong, Walker finds himself with a number of factions on his tail; a vengeful crime syndicate, a crooked politician, as well as his fellow cops. When attempting to rescue the politician's estranged son, whose involvement in the drug deal starts to unravel a deep web of corruption and conspiracy, he is forced to confront the demons of his past.' The trailer, backed by Fontaines D.C.'s 'Starburster,' promises the kind of nonstop action that Evans is known for. Beyond Hardy, the cast includes Jessie Mei Li, Justin Cornwell, Quelin Sepulveda, Luis Guzmán, Michelle Waterson, Sunny Pang, Jim Caesar, Xelia Mendes-Jones with Yeo Yann Yann, Timothy Olyphant and Forest Whitaker. 'Havoc' premieres April 25 on Netflix. The post Long-Awaited 'Havoc' Trailer Sees Tom Hardy Causing Chaos appeared first on TheWrap.
