Quentin Tarantino Praises Netflix's Flopped 2025 Action Flick: "It's Pretty F***Ing Bad-Ass"

Quentin Tarantino is the world's leading cinephile, and his recommendations are something we definitely listen to. Even if the movie in question didn't receive glowing reviews from everyone else.

Quentin Tarantino Mixes Up the Title, but Praises 'Havoc'

During a discussion on the Video Archives podcast (via Joblo), "Q.T." (a pseudonym understood to be Tarantino) praised an unlikely recent release – Gareth Evans' Havoc (although he mixed up the title a bit):

“Who has seen the Netflix movie Chaos directed by the guy who did The Raid? It's pretty f***ing bad-ass.”

What Is 'Havoc' About?

Patrick, a corrupt homicide detective, is investigating the murder of a Triad leader. In the footage from the crime scene, he sees Charlie, the son of Lawrence Beaumont, a wealthy businessman. Lawrence asks Patrick to find his son before other Triad members find him.

Meanwhile, the murdered man's mother arrives in town. She begins searching for those responsible for her son's death and quickly finds Charlie's trail – but she doesn't know that he is not the killer. In reality, the Triad headquarters were shot up by people wearing hockey masks.

'Havoc' Is Confused by Its Own Multiple Storylines That Fail to Come Together

The main problem with Havoc is that expectations were too high. Gareth Evans, the director of the movie, gave the world The Raid, an action masterpiece that has become a classic and the gold standard of the genre in less than 15 years.

Evans's main problem this time was his passion for the numerous storylines. For a movie with a modest running time of 107 minutes, there are an excessive number of plot lines.

Evans tries very hard to create a sense of a complex gangster world, but ultimately leaves viewers indifferent because none of the characters had enough screen time to develop.

Havoc delivers brutal, spectacular action scenes, as you would expect from the director of The Raid. However, the overly convoluted story leaves no room to develop any plot lines.

What Did Critics & Viewers Think of 'Havoc'?

Critics were not nearly as kind to Havoc as Tarantino. Peter Sobczynski of RogerEbert.com gave the movie 1.5 out of 4 stars and said:

“Perhaps the best thing about it in the end is that it is so utterly forgettable that after a week or two, it will simply disappear into the vast Netflix algorithm.”

• Havoc has 63% from critics and 35% from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes.

• On IMDb, the movie has a score of 5.7/10.

Where to Watch 'Havoc'?

Havoc is available to stream on Netflix.