Havoc (Unrated Version)
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.24 You Save: $8.73 (67%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $1.96 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Havoc (Unrated Version)
Movie Review: Good!
Summary: 4 Stars
About young generation dealing with life. Also, Bijou Philips and Anne Hathaway nude, can't beat that. lolMovie Review: Good movie Id recommend it!
Summary: 4 Stars
The way the teenagers talked got on my nerves, but it was a good story, and I love Anne Hathaway!Movie Review: Allison might talk the talk, but she and her friends can't walk the walk
Summary: 3 Stars
When I saw "Brokeback Mountain" I thought that was the film in which Anne Hathaway made it clear she was not going to be doing any more princess movies for Disney by dong a nude scene. But then I discovered that after making her second princess movie and then doing vocal work for "Hoodwinked," Hathaway made "Havoc" and went from PG to R without a transitional PG-13 movie (okay, unrated in terms of the DVD, but R in the theater). I heard that Mandy Moore was originally cast as the lead for this film and I have to wonder if she bailed given what the role required or if they changed the script to give it this "harder" edge that it has now. Putting in deleted scenes to justify labeling it as unrated might increase the word of mouth about the film, but it did not improve it in any way that will impress anybody with a more than prurient interest in the festivities.
Hathaway plays Allison Lang, a bored high school student who lives in an affluent part of Los Angeles. Along with her boy friend, Toby (Mike Vogel), best friend, Emily (Bijou Phillips), and everybody else in her group, Allison talks and dresses like bone fida members of the gangster culture from the music they listen to. They strike us as being pretty sad and pathetic, a judgment that is amply underscored when Toby tries to score some crack cocaine in East L.A. and is brought all the way down to the ground by Hector (Freddie Rodriguez, who does a much better job of getting beyond his role on "Six Feet Under" to impress viewers). If not for Allison's intervention Toby and everybody else in their car might have ended up dead. After this encounter Toby retreats into bravado, while Allison, having seen the real thing, responds to the danger. She drags Em along for the fun, and keeps pushing things with Hector and his gang until they come to a head.
The story here can be traced back to a spec script called "Powers That Be" that Jessica Kaplan sold in 1995 when she was still a teenager. Kaplan, who based the screenplay on her experiences in high school were her white friends were caught up in imitating gangster culture, died in the crash of a small plane in Los Angeles in 2003 (the film is dedicated to her). Stephen Gaghan revised the story and finished the screenplay, so he ends up being responsible for what we have seen. The idea of telling a story about these characters is certainly worth pursuing. I can remember chaperoning a prom and watching a bunch of white girls standing together on the dance floor singing along to rap songs and thinking that it would be hard for them to be removed much farther from the culture they were imitating.
The flaw with "Havoc" is rather interesting. It constructs a situation so that when Allison and Em agree to be initiated into Hector's gang that you know this is going to get bad. What follows makes it clear things are going to go so far beyond bad that you have to face down an impulse to stop the movie before you get to the really bad part. But then "Havoc" backs off and after an initial sense of relief you realize this is a movie that was made with the safety on, which puts us in the "no guts, no glory" territory. Ironically, what derails the movie is a scene that shows the best part of what is going on is the relationship between Allison and Em, even though it does not always seem like this is a good thing. Ultimately the only sympathetic character is Eric (Matt O'Leary), whose omnipresent camcorder distances him from the rest of the group, but who is able to make a pointed remark that surprisingly hits home for Allison.
Those who check out this film because of Hathaway's nude scenes will find something similar in the scene where she is being filmed by Eric where things get rather interesting and then the off switch is hit. Basically, that is what this movie does. It plays a game of chicken with cold harsh reality and then it yanks the wheel hard and quick so it can paste together a "happy" ending before the credits role. I can appreciate Hathaway's reasons for taking this job, but her character of Allison ends up proves to be guilty of slumming, and not even first-rate slumming at that. That makes the nudity and profanity somewhat gratuitous, all things considered.
Movie Review: "We're Teenagers and We're Bored"
Summary: 3 Stars
Anne Hathaway sheds her "good girl" image in this film about wealthy affluent teens becoming gansta wannabes.
Hathaway stars as Allison, a well-to-do teenage girl from Pacific Palisades. Allison and her "crew" Emily (Bijou Phillips), Amanda (Shiri Appleby), Sasha (Alexos Dziena) and boyfriend Toby (Mike Vogel) enjoy emulating gang lifestyle, right down to the clothes, music, and fights. Allison's group is called PTC, and they get into a fight with another crew at the beginning of the film, and Allison is right in the middle, punching and kicking.
After disposing of the rival crew, Allison's crew decides to try to buy some cocaine. It is here that they run into Hector (Freddy Rodriguez) and his crew. Toby buys the drugs from Hector, but Toby accuses him of gyping them. A confrontation occurs between Hector and Toby, and Allison steps in at the last minute to save Toby from being shot. Afterward, Toby retreats into himself, but Allison becomes intrigued with Hector and the entire gang culture.
Allison and the girls decide to go to a party hosted by Hector, and they are soon drinking and fooling around with Hector and his friends. Later on, Allison and Emily decide they want to join Hector's crew. Hector tells them that they must roll dice, and the number that comes up is the number of crew members they must sleep with. Allison rolls a one, Emily rolls a three. Allison chooses Hector, and Emily chooses another member of the crew. They go into a hotel room and begin making out. After a few minutes, Allison breaks it off with Hector, but Emily keeps going. Unfortunately for Emily, things get a little rough, and Allison comes in and saves her.
Emily claims she was raped and decides to press charges against Hector and the others. Arrests are made and Hector is taken into custody. The other members of Hector's crew decide to go after Allison and Emily. However, Toby has gotten wind of Hector's crew's plans and heads off to stop them. Bursting into the hotel room where Hector was staying, instead they find a terrified young woman and her child. While driving back, Toby crosses paths with Hector's crew, and as the screen fades out, gunshots are heard. What will become of Allison and Emily?
Anne Hathaway definitely loses her G-rated innocence from her "Princess Diaries" days by appearing nude in this film. Her swearing and drug use further separate her from her earlier films.
As for the plot, it only kept me mildly interested. There is constant swearing and nudity throughout the film, so it is definitely not an appropriate movie for younger viewers. The lack of character development is also disappointing. Anne Hathaway and Bijou Phillips do a fairly good job, but the rest of the acting is only average.
I cannot give this movie a very high recommendation. The plot is simply not very good, and the characters are very ordinary. If you want to see a different side of Anne Hathaway, then watch this movie. Otherwise, stay away.
Movie Review: I tell ya, curiosity will sometimes get you into trouble.
Summary: 3 Stars
While watching this film last night, the first thing that came to mind was, "Wow, these kids sure are fake." In many initial reviews, this movie was derided as being a joke. It was either hearing about the various nude scenes of Anne Hathaway or a bunch of white kids trying to act black, and doing it poorly.
I said that that "Fake" was the first thing that came to mind, because we are immediately presented with this group of rich white kids acting like they are black. However, it is being mistaken by some reviewers that these actors are doing a bad job. What we are really seeing is truly how superficial that these kids are. They are fake, in every sense of the word, and that is the whole point of the movie. Don't try and act like something you aren't because there are consequences.
I say this is a social commentary, not perfectly executed, but still fairly well done nonetheless. It does truly present many aspects of youth behavior nowadays that most people don't really look at. We are given a true side to high school, where there are fake people everywhere, underage and illegal activity is happening, and its all going on without parents there to see. This movie takes the comedy out of the teenage life that has been prevalent in movies over the past 8 years or so such as "American Pie" and other similar styled teen comedies and turns it to a sort of opposite view.
Now I am not by any means saying that this movie is a guiding light which everyone should see. In fact, I don't know if this movie is for everyone, because of the issues it presents. Most parents, such as myself, would undoubtedly have problems coming to terms that the behavior seen in this movie happens. Now it doesn't happen everywhere, or in every school, but I'm pretty sure that you know what I mean.
This film is backed up by pretty well performed acting done by the majority of its cast. Anne Hathaway, who many doubted had the range to tackle such a role, seemed very natural in the part. I don't mean that negatively, and I actually give her credit for really becoming the character. The rest of the cast does a good job, but it is her performance that truly helps you understand most of the underlying message of the movie.
I know that some won't view it the way I seen it, but to each is own. I do hope that people see this movie and don't criticize it solely on what they think is bad acting. It has a much deeper theme than that, and I think that the more viewers understand that, the more people will realize the decency of the film.