Perturbadas

The film "Closer" (2004) was never meant to be liked, just revealing. I felt the same vibe resonate throughout the eighty-six minutes of Havoc. It's not at all meant to be a film you'll necessarily respect, favor, prefer, or like--the film is simply meant to show you the stupidity of the rap/gang culture. The emptiness, the lack of emotion and integrity that is showcased throughout the generation. A previous review stated that all the actors were terrible in this film, that there was no plot, and virtually nothing in the movie in the first place. I agree to an extent; there is no plot in the lifestyle, no purpose. However, I believe the actors actually gave surprising performances, Joseph Gordon-Lewitt the most convincing; I didn't even recognize him for a moment. The filming was well done with a few gag-me exceptions; most angles were appropriate for the scenes (though the sexual situations *definitely* could have used a little more imagination).

Overall, there could have been more to the film than what we're left with. This could be attributed to the death of the original screenwriter in 2003, or it could be the director's execution. However, I still stand by my opinion that it's worth watching, but that you probably won't desire to see it again.

It seems that this is one of those films that people either love or hate. I'm more in the middle. At times I found Havoc annoying, but as it progressed, the story became more engaging, and you're supposed to find aspects of it annoying.

Anne Hathaway--who is trying her hardest here to distance herself from her previous Disney and family film image by choosing a role where she's naked and sexual as often as possible--plays Allison, a rich, enigmatic high school student, wrapped up with a very plastic wannabe-gangsta-rapper group of white kids. They have a minor encounter with a Mexican gang in East L.A., and Hathaway finds herself (somewhat) inexplicably drawn to the Mexican gang. She keeps returning to visit one of the leaders, Hector (Freddy Rodriguez). At one point things become more complicated, as the audience surely expects.

The annoying aspect of the film is the rich kid gangsta posers. They seem incredibly fake, stupid and ridiculous. But on the other hand, that's pretty much the point. Los Angeles certainly has a reputation, somewhat deserved, for plasticity, so I suppose that Los Angeles high schools would be even worse, because a large percentage of high school students everywhere tend to conform to some clique or another (as do many adults, for that matter, but the "join a club to fit in and be accepted" mentality is usually more transparent and focused in high school). So the main characters should be annoying, and Allison, and later her friend Emily (Bijou Phillips), should be frustrating in their lack of direction and independent identity.

The problem with Havoc, however, is that the bulk of the running time is given to this irksome, frustrating and ridiculous group of characters. That's not exactly a recipe for falling in love with a film. Both Allison and the audience will likely respond to the Mexican gang better because there is an air of authenticity present with them, thanks largely to the cast playing those roles, but they're just not in the film enough, and the climax and dénouement are far less than satisfactory in that regard. Likewise, one rich kid character who is making an amateur documentary on the rich kid "gang" comes across as more authentic and interesting, but he ends up having an inexcusably minor role.

Still, if you can bear the inundation of poser behavior and lingo, there is an interesting story somewhat buried here, plus some attractive cinematography, a good soundtrack (both the songs and the more traditional score), and I'm certainly not complaining about seeing, um, more of Anne Hathaway. Approach this one with a lot of caution, but it's easy to see how it could be a gem for some.

This movie was often times painful to watch, and it's not because of its "moving" subject matter. It's possible the filmmakers aren't at fault, here, because when you make a movie about irritating people, don't be surprised that the viewers will find themselves irritated. But if you take on a film that'll make people's brains hemorrhage, you probably deserve to be booed.

Honestly, though, after seeing this piece of crap, I'm surprised Stephen Gaghan can still get work in Hollywood. Likewise for Hathaway, who does a respectable job with a vastly mundane script. Not so kudos to Bijou Philips, for whom playing trash isn't exactly a huge stretch or test of acting ability, nor to Freddy Rodriguez, who, to make his speech more threatening, actually slows himself down so much that he starts. Speaking. In. Fragments. Of the trio, though, he may be the most surprising transformation, especially since he's so squeaky on "Six Feet Under." It was unexpected, but it may have been a casting mistake. Instead of appearing threatening, he looks more like he has Short Man's Syndrome, since Hathaway has a head of height on him, and may appear more menacing therefore. I know I shouldn't be so astounded, but it stupefies me still, how far Hollywood will go to make the worst casting decisions in the name of getting someone proximately famous for the DVD cover. Oy...

I think the most irksome thing about "Havoc" is that, in the end, it's a vacuous morality tale. They had a chance to make something of the examination of bored, rich teenagers who want to be poor on purpose, but they instead glazed over it. No one involved has long-lasting suffering. It's like the whole thing was just a bad dream, which is, I suppose, a fitting description of a night spent watching "Havoc," a most aptly-titled film. The most disappointing aspect of the whole deal is that the personal responsibility lesson isn't given enough gravity. Bored, unlikable, upper-class adolescents get in a wee bit of trouble with a Latin gang of their own accord? My cup overfloweth. Honest to God, if I have to hear another person defend an individual's actions on the basis of the "It's only your fault until you get hurt; then, you can blame someone else" line, I'm going to implode. And guess what "Havoc" does?

Bottom line: if you're looking for half-naked girls, you've hit the jackpot. Also, if you're a teenager and you're looking for some kind of searing expose of the "Gee, I think I'll go join a gang today" lifestyle, you, too, are in luck. Otherwise, don't be surprised if you find yourself vomiting uncontrollably and crying for your mother during the ninety minutes of the train wreck called "Havoc."

Seeing this movie is exactly like seeing "Malibu's Most Wanted", with the exception that it is not a comedy. With "Malibu's Most Wanted" already being a very average film, one could only imagine how much worse this film is. The whole premise of the movie is very, very ridiculous, being that the kids are just like the kids from the TV series: "The OC" except they are more rich, more devious and of course more "gansta". With the exception of Anne Hathaway's character "Allison" and Freddy Rodriguez's character "Hector", the acting was horrible. Every time "Toby", Allison's boyfriend appeared, I just shook my head in utter disappointment. It was so painful to just hear him speak, let alone act. Everyone else had an average performance, and no one lead you to believe that anything was authentic. To be fair there is an underlying message within the film ,concerning the lies and the truths of society; yet the way it executed and presented itself was very bad. I guess if you are a Anne Hathaway fan, and want to see her in the buff, you can see this film, but I do remember that she does the same in "Brokeback Mountain", so don't waste your money buying this DVD, you'll feel disappointed.

Well, I definitely would have had a field day to this 2 or 3 times if I had known about it in 2005 when it came out. But, not to Joseph Gordon Levitt dropping all those N-bombs...

Havoc is definitely not a GOOD movie, but it is a bit of an anomaly and its definitely wholly entertaining. It exists in a realm somewhere between Larry Clark (I'm thinking BULLY) and something like Alpha Dog, though it's not as good as either of those.

I'm not sure how Anne Hathaway got placed as the lead in this right in between The Princess Diaries 2 and The Devil Wears Prada. Her sex appeal is definitely off the charts in this movie, and she "bares more" here than in any other movie I'm aware of, but it also feels like such an odd role for her outside of that. While she is typically a very strong actress, in this film where she is supposed to portray a "rich Pacific Palisades girl obsessed with "gangsta" culture", at no point does it feel believable. She will randomly dip into talking with slang and accents for moments at a time but then most of the time speaks like her normal self, yet the characters verbally reference her "talking hood" even when she's not at all.

On that note, nobody puts in a particularly good performance in this, but I'm sure that has a lot to do with the writing and directing as well. Bijou Phillips is great playing the same type of cute and vulnerable character she always tends to, and Freddy Rodriguez and Raymond Cruz (Tuco from Breaking Bad) do the best job out of the whole cast with the material.

It's a ride that's fully cringe all the way through, and a lot of little things don't make that much sense. Why is that one kid filming everything? What is he making a movie about? What for? Or at least, why are these kids that think they're so hard just letting him?

The actual movie itself really doesn't have an ending at all - the closest thing we get to a finale is our protagonist basically acting as a rape apologist, and then suddenly it's just over? I dunno if that qualifies as a finale.

I feel like this was the tail end of when movies like this got funded with actual stars on the cast. Half of the cast are A-listers now...seeing Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in these roles is...hilarious.

Freak show of a movie that would never be made now.