Havoc (2005)

Just perfect...

i must have seen a different film!!

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Allison Lang (Anne Hathaway) is from the upper class white neighborhood of Pacific Palisades. Her parents (Michael Biehn, Laura San Giacomo) are divorced and she's not connecting with them. Her boyfriend Toby is a Wigger and a poser. He takes her and her friend Emily (Bijou Phillips) to the bad side of L.A. They try to buy drugs and get rolled by Hector (Freddy Rodríguez). Even with Toby's cowardice, she is excited by the incident and returns to the spot the next night with Emily, Amanda (Shiri Appleby) and Sasha (Alexis Dziena). She finds Hector again as she falls further and further into his dangerous world.This is a souped-up afterschool special. I don't particularly find these characters that compelling. The girls could do whatever the hell they want for all I care. It starts with the idiotic posing from Toby. It brings up an interesting casting choice. It's crazy looking back that Mike Vogel got the bigger role while Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Channing Tatum are cast as his friends. The other problematic casting choice is Freddy Rodríguez. I can't buy him as a gang leader especially since he's a foot shorter than Anne Hathaway. He's definitely not hard enough and there's a bit of Napoleon going on here. Hathaway is good in this movie and keeps it compelling. She's really the major bright spot in this.

It was more like a parody than a serious movie, the acting was really bad. Everything was hardly believable. What the hell Anne Hathaway was doing in this??? She didn't fit in, it was the most inappropriate role for her. How could she even agree to this? Joseph Gordon-Levitt was the most funny one. I couldn't understand what was he doing. Mike Vogel looked stupid. Nothing seemed serious. How can so many actors play so bad in one movie? Only the latinos were seeming believable. That was just plain ridiculous. I just wish the camera boy was Aaron Ashmore, he would make a movie worth some more points. And what was that all about? Apart from the horrible acting the movie has nothing interesting in it's plot. Why did they make it at all?? I am shocked how a movie with so many famous actors can be so crappy. How did they make them all act so bad?? Seriously??

What an intense rush this movie was.. caught it on IFC the other night , and this one hits you like a ton of bricks, and keeps piling them on one after the other, a bunch of rich kids decide they are bored and get mixed up with the East L.A. Gangs,, Mexican Gangs,, the girls in this movie are totally trashy, they are constant drug users,, little troublemakers, who crave constant action,, they have sex with guys they shouldn't . it's just a total mess with these kids.. the movie stars Anne Hathaway,, and Bijou Phillips, both whom i thought did a pretty good job,, yeah this movie is bordering on an X rating in my opinion,, lot's of drug use,, frontal nudity,, rape scene... d.p. just to name a few,, not that i personally think there's anything wrong with it,, in the film there is a rival gang,, called PLC,, there a bunch of wiggers who try to be black, they seem so plastic it's really pathetic,, they say L.A. is the city of plastic angels so go figure,, although there's lot's in the movie for some to say oh it's disgusting and horrible,, i guarantee you one thing,, once you start watching,, you won't be able to turn you're head away from it.

'Havoc' is pretty much like any other teen-rebel film but it's not that bad for a one-time watch. The late Jessica Kaplan wrote the screenplay as a teenager and with that regard it's pretty impressive. However, as a stand alone there isn't much that stays after the rolling of the end credits. Some scenes are well executed and the dialogues are interesting. The scenes with the gangsters and the two girls were also well handled. I also liked how the gangster characters were written. They were bad people but not devils. The dark humour also works for the most parts. Anna Hathaway and Freddy Rodriguez do a find job. Bijou Philips too does a decent job. Most of the rest of the younger cast, especially the actors that play 'wiggers' are quite awful. For a one time watch, I didn't mind 'Havoc'. In parts, the film doesn't do a bad job in presenting the dark themes such as teenagers bored with a 'safe' life and pretending to be what they're not, but, it could have developed it further as towards the end, 'Havoc' does appear patchy and rushed.