Review of Havoc (2005) by Mario E — 24 Aug 2009

Many people complain that this film is anything but good, and they dismiss it as simple trash that overreached while trying to be affecting. Well, I'm not one of them. I am one of those who think this is, in fact, an interesting film, and very well worth the hour and a half I spent watching it.

I suppose most of the negative reviews towards this film come from the fact that it did not reach the expectations people had of it. I mean take director Barbara Kopple (yes, the documentary genius director), screenwriter Stephen Gaghan (who also wrote classics like Traffic and Syriana) and Anne Hathaway in a powerfully exposive role...you'd normally expect a highly artistic, disturbingly deep and intelligent film. This film isn't any of the above, even though it TRIES to be. Nevertheless, as I've mentioned before, it does have an interesting enough plot.

It's about two rich teenagers (Anne Hathaway and Bijou Phillips) who are going through their rebellious teenager stage where drinking, heavy flirting and hanging out with the tough guys is in vogue. They decide to cross over from their posh neighborhoods into downtown East side, (the latino side, really) where hard drugs, gang violence and gun fights are at the order of the day. These teens are impressed (to put it mildly) with how "real" everything seems in the East side, and are soon begging to be admitted into the hazardous latino gang...with expectably detrimental results.

The film tries to discuss really profound and disturbing points of view, and even though it DOES tackle some issues, it all seems a bit off. Hathaway is, of course, a revelation in her first challenging role, but the rest of the actors are a bit off. In fact, everything about the movie is a bit off. Even Stephen Gaghan, who writes the screenplay, offers us a probing look into the breaches of society and the cause and effect that lead our two protagonists in a downward spiral, but he refuses to reach deeper to actually make the audience care and feel enveloped by the psychological turmoil going on-screen.

I'm sure I'm portraying this to be a base and horrible film, but it isn't. I feel I watched something entertaining and that serves as an illustration to other similar films I've watched before. It's an interesting movie to seek out, and I really do recommend it, but I hope you aren't expecting a masterpiece. Just watch it 'for the fun of it' (even if this phrase sounds a bit ironic).

Rating: 2 and a half stars out of 4!