It’s been almost four years since Havoc—the new Tom Hardy movie now streaming on Netflix—wrapped production, but this highly-anticipated action movie is finally here. And it does not disappoint.
Written and directed by Gareth Evans, who is best known for his 2011 Indonesian action thriller The Raid, Havoc stars Hardy as a grizzled police detective named Walker with a dark secret, indebted to his city’s corrupt mayor (played by Forest Whitaker). When the mayor’s son gets caught up in a violent gang war, Walker agrees to rescue the kid, in exchange for his freedom.
Also starring Jessie Mei Li, Timothy Olyphant, Luis Guzmán, Justin Cornwell, and Quelin Sepulveda, Havoc absolutely delivers on the bloody, visceral fight scenes that fans of Evans have come to expect. Though it’s secondary to the action, there is also a plot. Because it’s secondary to the action, it can be confusing at times. Don’t worry, Decider is here to help. Read on for a breakdown of the Havoc plot and the Havoc ending explained.
Havoc plot summary:
The movie begins with a flashback sequence accompanied by a voice-over narration from our protagonist, a grizzled police detective named Walker (Tom Hardy). Walker explains that he did something very bad that caused him to lose his family. We don’t know exactly what that is, but it seems to involve a drug ring and corrupt police, including Walker, who is shown dumping a dead body in a lake.
In the present-day, there’s a high-speed car chase between the cops and a group of young people—including Charlie (Justin Cornwell) and his girlfriend Mia (Quelin Sepulveda)—in a semi-truck full of washing machines. The kids manage to get away by throwing one of the washers onto the cop car, severely injuring the driver, Officer Cortez (Serhat Metin). After the kids get away, Charlie and Mia deliver the stolen goods—smuggled cocaine—to a buyer in Chinatown. But in the middle of the drug deal, a group of mysterious masked men show up with guns, and shoot everyone in sight, and steal the drugs.
Meanwhile, Detective Walker is buying a last-minute Christmas gift for his six-year-old daughter. Apparently, he’s not been a good dad, and his wife kicked him out of the house. To make matters worse, Detective Walker has been assigned a new partner, Ellie (Jessie Mei Li), even though he prefers to work alone. Ellie and Walker show up on the scene to investigate the aftermath of the club massacre. It’s revealed the buyer who was killed was the son of powerful Triad mob boss (played by Yeo Yann Yann), which means who ever did this is in big trouble with the Chinese mafia. Ellie finds a suspect—Charlie—on the security footage, and Walker claims not to recognize him.
But Walker does recognize him. Charlie is apparently the son of the city’s corrupt mayor (played by Forest Whitaker). Walker and the mayor have some kind of deal. The mayor knows what Walker did, so Walker helps the mayor get away with his corruption, in exchange for silence. Walker agrees to save Charlie from the mafia, if the mayor will agree to disappear from the city and never bother Walker again.
Walker is taken off the case, apparently for lying about not recognizing Charlie. But we start to suspect there might be more to it when Walker goes to visit the injured Officer Cortez, and runs into some fellow cops at the hospital. Another officer, Vincent (played by Timothy Olyphant) implies he wants revenge on Charlie for hurting Officer Cortez with that washing machine stunt. We learn via a flashback that Vincent, Walker, and Cortez are all dirty cops who were involved in an illegal drug bust, where they accidentally injured an undercover cop. When Walker realized the guy they brutalized is a cop, he wants to take him to the hospital. (He didn’t realize he had been assaulting a guy whose life actually matters, aka a cop!) But Vincent refused, and instead shot and killed the undercover cop, to prevent their dirty scheme from being exposed. Walker disposed of the body. Yeah, he’s a dirty cop, but he never wanted to be that dirty.
Eventually, Walker tracks down Charlie and Mia before the mob can whack them. They reveal that Vincent was one of the men who killed the important Chinese mafia prince in the drug deal gone wrong. Vincent and his fellow dirty cops have a man on the inside in the mafia, Ching (Sunny Pang). Apparently, Ching has double-crossed the mafia. Vincent and Office Cortez weren’t chasing that truck because they wanted to enforce the law—it’s because they wanted to steal the drugs and sell them themselves. Now, Vincent has the drugs, but he needs to get to Charlie and Mia before they can spill the beans to the mafia. So, Charlie and Mia have two enemies: the Triad, and the dirty cops.
Ellie—who is apparently the only non-dirty cop in the city—arrests Ching after he murders Cortez and his wife in the hospital. Walker takes Charlie and Mia to a fishing cabin in the woods, and sends his location to the mayor to come collect his son. Unfortunately, the mayor has been kidnapped by the mob boss lady herself, and she intends to make him feel the same pain she feels, re: losing her son. The mafia goons show up at the cabin, and a brutal, bloody, battle ensues.
Havoc ending explained:
Miraculously, Walker, Charlie, and Mia all survive the attack. However, Charlie and Mia are kidnapped by the mob boss. For her revenge, she wants the mayor to kill Charlie’s girlfriend, Mia, because Charlie “took the one thing I loved in this world,” and she wants him to feel the same pain. It seems like the mayor is going to do it, but hesitates when Charlies begs him not to. That’s when Ellie shows up to save the day, with the corrupt cops and Ching in tow.
Ellie tells the mob boss that Charlie and Mia didn’t kill her son, it was these dirty cops. Ching speaks up and reveals that he thought he was going to take over the mob, not the son. So that’s why he betrayed the Triad. Ching also rats out the dirty cops. Everyone gets mad, and starts shooting. The mayor takes a lot of bullets to protect Mia and Charlie. As he dies, the mayor tells his son to take care of Mia, and Charlie promises he will. Ching shoots and kills the mob boss. Vincent shoots and kills Ching, and steals the remaining drugs.
An injured Vincent manages to get away with the duffel bag of drugs, but before he can hop on a passing train, he’s caught by Walker. Walker tells Vincent he is the only remaining person alive who knows about what Walker did, aka covering up the murder of that undercover cop. With that, Walker kills Vincent. So, he’s free, right?
Not so fast. Ellie witnessed Walker kill Vincent. He could kill her, and have a chance at freedom. But he doesn’t. Charlie and Mia escape in a truck together. Walker tells Ellie she should arrest him, because she is a good cop (unlike him, it’s implied). Ellie tells Walker she will get his daughter her Christmas present. As the police cars close in, Walker tells Ellie not to bother. “I don’t want to ruin her Christmas,” he says.
The implication? Walker feels guilty about what a bad cop he’s been, and has decided it will be best for everyone if he goes to prison. It’s not entirely clear if he will be arrested and go to prison, but it’s definitely implied. At least he saved Charlie and Mia.
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