With the kind of brutal, hard-hitting, amazingly choreographed action fare Welsh director Gareth Evans had offered with his Indonesian movies like Merantau, The Raid, and its sequel more than a decade ago on a shoestring budget, it was evident that his Netflix debut, Havoc, would fully justify its title. A basic run-of-the-mill narrative involving corrupt cops, politicians, small-time crooks, and gang members is tied together with grotesque, relentless ultraviolence, which takes time to build up, but once the ball gets rolling, viewers find themselves at the edge of their seats. The stylized neo-noir setting aligns with the pulpy violence so well that it adds its own macabre sense of beauty. With crazy gun action, with bullets and bodies flying everywhere, not everyone makes it till the end. Let us take a look at those characters in Havoc who met their untimely end and the motives behind their killings as well.
Spoilers Ahead
Tsui Fong and Attendees of His Club
The first major death in the movie is of the young Triad boss, Tsui Fong, which triggers a series of vengeance-fueled violent events in which almost every character in the movie finds themselves embroiled. Charlie’s girlfriend, Mia, had stolen Tsui’s car, and the Triad boss forced the couple to orchestrate a high-risk heist to get his cocaine shipment delivered. However, Ching, the turncoat underboss, had his own agenda, as he had informed the corrupt cops Vince, Cortez, Jake, and Hayes, about the shipment delivery, giving them a chance to take down the crooks, steal the cocaine, and share the profit with him. However, following Cortez sustaining a near-fatal injury during the chase, Vince and co. failed to catch the crooks in time. Accordingly, the cop trio went to Tsui’s nightclub wearing hockey masks and killed the Triad boss along with a significant number of members of his inner circle using assault rifles and stole the cocaine.
Raul, Hayes, Wes, and Johnny Die During Nightclub Battle
The best action sequence of Havoc takes place in the nightclub battle, where members of every involved party reach the Medusa Club—Mia and Charlie being their primary target. Detective Walker has been sent to protect Charlie by his father, mayoral candidate/real estate tycoon Lawrence Beaumont, and has to save Mia as well, given Charlie’s connection with her. Vince, Jake, and Hayes are there to eliminate the loose ends, as Mia knows that the cop trio murdered Tsui Fong, and on the other hand, Wes has ratted on his friends to a vengeful Clarice Fong, leading to Triad members arriving at the spot as well. Junkyard owner Raul had a filial bond with Mia and had arranged for her safe exit, and anticipating trouble, he arrived at the club as well to protect Mia. A prolonged action scene follows, which not only sees the use of guns, but also a range of melee weapons like cleavers, choppers, and blunt weapons, which results in the vicious deaths of numerous Triad members. Raul sacrifices himself to save Mia and gets riddled with bullets by Triad members, and Johnny, one of the crooks who helped Mia and Charlie in the heist job, meets a tragic end at the hands of gang members as well. Wes, who betrayed his friends to save his skin, gets his comeuppance by getting shot to death by Clarice’s loyal assassin. Detective Hayes gets a cleaver jammed in his throat moments after getting rid of a bunch of Triad members. If you have played the nightclub scene from the game “Sleeping Dogs,” you will be familiar with the high-octane action thrill this entire sequence offers.
Detective Cortez and Angie Get Killed
Following the nightclub massacre, Ching gets busy covering up his tracks to remain in Clarice Fong’s good books. He goes to the hospital, where a severely injured Detective Cortez is admitted, and even though amateur Detective Ellie Cheung arrives right in time after spotting Ching taking out his gun in hospital surveillance footage, she isn’t able to save Cortez. The death of Angie, Cortez’s wife, is somewhat tragic, as she had nothing to do with the affairs of these psychotic, violent people, and still, just due to her presence at her husband’s side, she is murdered by Ching.
Cabin Shootout Doubles the Body Count
The climactic scene of the cabin shootout is another brilliant highlight of Havoc, where the head honchos of all the parties are present for a final showdown. Mia, Walker, and Charlie are cornered inside the cabin, with Triad members pouring in. Even though Walker takes care of the majority of the adversaries, Clarice’s assassin lady absolutely wrecks him with brilliant, devastating martial art moves. However, Walker has the last laugh as, taking advantage of her momentary lapse in focus, he fires a grapple hook gun right through her throat, killing her instantly. Mia and Charlie are held captive, and Clarice tries to coerce Lawrence into taking their lives. Right at that moment, Detective Ellie brings captives Vince, Jake, and Ching to the spot, revealing them to be the real culprits responsible for Tsui’s death. As Ching confesses his crimes to Clarice, a momentary distraction allows Jake to disarm Ellie, take a gun, and shoot at Charlie. In order to save his son, Lawrence jumps in between them and sacrifices his life. Clarice gets shot to death by Ching, who, in turn, gets fatally shot by Vince. Ellie finds herself cornered by Jake, but Charlie saves her by shooting the corrupt cop to death. Needless to say, lots of Triad members bite the dust, or in this case, snow.
Detective Vince Die In The End
In the midst of this chaotic situation, an injured Vince tries to make a run for it, grabbing the bag of cocaine and a handgun—and a battered, bruised Detective Walker follows him. Walker couldn’t let Vince walk off, knowing he was the one responsible for all this mayhem and bloodbath, and had prepared to surrender himself as well, as an admission of guilt for his past actions. Vince refuses to listen to Walker’s plea to surrender himself, shoots Walker, and gets himself turned into a bullet pincushion as Walker retaliates in kind. Charlie and Mia leave, and Detective Ellie warns them that they will not be safe after what they have survived. Ellie returns to Walker as the cop cars arrive at the scene, and Walker mentions giving himself up as he is prepared to face his comeuppance. However, it is hinted that Walker, too, doesn’t make it till the end, as his pupils dilate and eyes go still as the camera focuses on him. Although judging from the way his speech was close to normal moments earlier, he might have survived as well—depending on the way viewers interpret it.
