Move Over, John Wick: Tom Hardy’s Havoc Is One of Netflix’s Best Action Movies

Here’s a movie that was basically engineered to be a no-brainer for anyone who loves brutal, stylish action: Tom Hardy, back in gritty-brawler mode, teams up with Gareth Evans – yes, the guy who made The Raid movies. The result? A film called Havoc, which hit Netflix in 2025 and somehow ended up flying right under a whole lot of radars. If you missed it (and, statistically, you probably did), here’s why it might deserve a spot on your streaming list, even if critics and audiences were weirdly lukewarm.

The Lowdown: Hardy Goes Full Throttle

In Havoc, Tom Hardy plays Walker, a detective so relentlessly tough you’d think he was genetically engineered in a lab that also makes sledgehammers. He’s on a mission to track down a politician’s estranged son, kidnapped by a criminal gang in the middle of a messy drug investigation. Predictably, the more Walker punches and shoots his way toward a rescue, the more he discovers there’s a whole rotten onion of secrets behind this supposedly simple job: botched operations, morally murky politicians, and a gang with its own agenda.

Basically, it’s Hardy vs. a city’s worth of bad guys, and, if you’re in the mood for 'John Wick meets The Raid' energy, this is about as close as we’ve got.

The Team Behind the Mayhem

There are no weak links in the main lineup here. Hardy does his brooding, physical thing perfectly. Gareth Evans directs with the same sort of bone-crunching flair that made The Raid movies so beloved. And the supporting cast isn’t messing around either:

• Jessie Mei Li
• Forest Whitaker
• Timothy Olyphant
• Luis Guzmán
• Quelin Sepulveda

Not a filler in the bunch.

So, Why Did Everyone Ignore It?

Here’s where things get a little weird. On paper, this movie should have crushed it. Instead, Havoc got hit with the dreaded ‘underwhelming’ label, which honestly feels unfair. Critics gave it a 64% on Rotten Tomatoes—maybe not world-beating, but nothing tragic. The general consensus? The plot isn’t exactly reinventing the wheel, but the action sequences absolutely rip.

But audiences? They were downright harsh, dropping a 35% user score on Rotten Tomatoes. That’s the sort of number you expect when a film is essentially broken, which isn’t the case here. My guess: people heard 'Gareth Evans' and 'Tom Hardy' and got hyped for another instant-classic like The Raid, then dinged the movie when it didn’t quite blast past those impossible expectations.

For what it’s worth, even MovieWeb gave it a solid 3.5 out of 5, which lines up with most professional reviews. If you’re just after inventive violence and relentless pacing, Havoc delivers.

Numbers Don’t Lie—At Least Not to Netflix

Here’s the twist: while the reviews were all over the place, Havoc was actually a hit with viewers in the one way that matters to Netflix. It cracked the streamer’s Top 10 almost immediately, and hung around in the number one spot for multiple days. So people were watching—it just didn’t translate into glowing scores.

The Big Question: Will There Be a Sequel?

Now, if you’re hoping for Havoc 2, here’s where things get annoying. So far, Netflix is just sitting on their hands; no official sequel announcement yet. Gareth Evans, for his part, sounds ready to jump back in. In his words:

'There’s definitely a hell of a lot of intrigue about what happens next with Walker’s journey.'

Right now, we’re still waiting to see if Netflix decides to pull the trigger—so don’t hold your breath, but maybe don’t give up hope, either.

The Bottom Line

Havoc isn’t going to dethrone John Wick or The Raid: Redemption as your favorite action movie anytime soon, but if you want to watch Tom Hardy smash through an endless gauntlet of criminals and plot twists, it’s more than worth a streaming night. There’s always something satisfying about giving one of these underappreciated action flicks a proper shot—especially when everyone else seems to have missed the memo.