Gareth Evans takes the gritty cop movie to its darkest depths for his new Netflix action thriller.
This article contains full spoilers forHavoc.
Thats when we watch as Detective Walker sits pensively and thinks about what hes done.
Weve seen it continue in more recent greatsHeat,Training Day, andThe Departed.
A Bad Cop in a Bad World
Havoccondenses a whole crime epic into a propulsive 105 minutes.
Beaumont offers Walker a deal.
That plot gives Evans plenty of space to do what he does best, craft visceral fight scenes.
But the most notable addition is the use of gun violence.
Gun shots have rarely been louder in a movie, rivaling those inAlex GarlandsCivil WarandWarfare.
People dont get shot just once; theyre peppered with bullets, convulsing as theyre filled with lead.
As that description might suggest,Havocmakes for a bleak film, both in form and content.
That unpleasantness that transforms the ending from something rote to something transcendent, unique among the grittiest cop movie.
A Violent End
AtHavocs climax, Charlie has been caught.
A battered Walker cannot stop them, so Tsuis mother and Ping arrive to execute their vengeance.
Theyre halted only Beaumont, who throws himself in front of Charlie and takes the bullet for his son.
After the shooting stops, Walkers left with Vincent.
He shoots Vincent, the true last person who knows his guilt, and stumbles away.
Havoc ends at it begins, with Walker sitting alone and contemplating what hes done.
When Ellie arrives to reassure him, Walker refuses, telling her to arrest him instead.
Youre a good cop, Ellie, he says.
I probably should have been nicer to you.
I dont want to disappoint her.
The movie ends with a push in on Walkers face, highlighted by red and blue lights.
Walker isnt a corruption of a noble institution.
Hes the embodiment of a violent, corrupt institution, one that wont be changed by good cop Ellie.
Havoc streams on Netflix on April 25.
