British film star Tom Hardy puts his action chops to the test in the brand new Netflix thriller, Havoc, helmed by mastermind director Gareth Evans.
Best known for directing the acclaimed martial arts blockbusters The Raid and The Raid 2, the Welsh filmmaker has also been behind the gripping crime drama Gangs of London on Sky.
He has now teamed up with the A-list leading man of Mad Max: Fury Road and Venom fame for an exhilarating blockbuster about a hardened cop taking on the criminal underworld.
Hardy portrays Walker, a guilt-ridden detective who’s called to action to liberate a politician’s estranged son from a sinister circle of criminals and assassins.
The Peaky Blinders star threw himself head first into some of the most impressive set pieces in Netflix’s catalogue, skilfully led by Evans’ action expertise.
When asked if Hardy left the film with a new skillset, Evans confirmed exclusively to Express Online: “I think so. I think it was a different experience for him.
“One of the things that was brilliant about bringing Tom on board was that I knew that all of the action components existed within my wheelhouse.”
Not only was Hardy, as well as his frequent stunt double Jacob Tomuri, instrumental in bringing Havoc’s visceral fight scenes to life, but the actor also brought a lot of his own ideas to fleshing out his troubled protagonist.
“But what was great about working with Tom is that we could do this intense deep dive into character, a deep dive into Walker,” Evans went on.
“We started mining for things we could play and explore within the film. The trauma and the guilt that kind of haunts him as a character, that all came from discussions with Tom. He was looking for the other elements to it.
“I came to him saying, ‘I’ve got this blistering action film that is set with an influence of that 70s American vibe’, so he latched onto that and said, ‘Great, now let’s bring more of an emotional element to the character’.
“So, when you get those big set pieces, there’s story and character being told at the same time as the spectacle of the set piece.”
Also featuring Jessie Mei Li as Walker’s partner Ellie as well as Hollywood stars Timothy Olyphant and Forest Whitaker, Havoc has already been likened to the John Wick series and could kickstart a brand new franchise for Netflix.
For fans who have loved seeing Hardy as the symbiotic anti-hero Eddie Brock/Venom or as hardened criminals the Kray twins in Legend, make sure to check him out in one of his most complex roles yet.
Reviews are already in for the thriller hitting Netflix later this week, with Mitchell Beaupre calling it “a relentlessly brutal neo-noir punctuated by two of the best action sequences of the decade”.
And The Globe and Mail’s Barry Hertz claimed the film’s four-year production was “worth it”, writing on X (formerly Twitter): “This is a squib-heavy bloodbath that’s mythic, messy, manic.
“Missing THE RAID 2’s Mad Dog flavor (and that film’s enjoyably dense gangland-war narrative), but when it rips, it rips so hard.”
Havoc will be released Friday, 25th April on Netflix.