Havoc (film)

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This article is about the 2005 film. For other uses, see Havoc (disambiguation).
Havoc

Havoc film poster
Directed by Barbara Kopple
Produced by Jack F. Murphy
John Morrissey
Written by Stephen Gaghan
Jessica Kaplan
Starring Anne Hathaway
Bijou Phillips
Freddy Rodriguez
Michael Biehn
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Distributed by New Line Cinema
Release date(s) November 29, 2005 (DVD Premiere)
Running time 94 min. (unrated version)
Country  United States
Language English
Budget $9,000,000

Havoc is an American motion picture about the lives of wealthy Los Angeles, California, teenagers whose exposure to hip hop culture inspires them to imitate the gangster lifestyle. They run into trouble when they encounter a gang of Latino drug dealers, discovering they are not as street-wise as they had thought.

The script was written by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Stephen Gaghan and the film was directed by Barbara Kopple. After appearances at several film festivals, the movie was released directly to DVD on November 29, 2005 without ever receiving a theatrical release in the U.S.

The film stars Anne Hathaway, Bijou Phillips, Shiri Appleby, Freddy Rodriguez, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Biehn and Laura San Giacomo.

Contents

[edit] Plot

 This plot summary may be too long or overly detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (August 2009)

Havoc begins with an evening scene at a parking lot in which a teenage filmmaker named Eric (Matt O'Leary) is attempting to document the faux-gangsta lifestyle enjoyed by Allison (Anne Hathaway) and her boyfriend Toby’s (Mike Vogel) gang of white upper-class teenagers living in Los Angeles’s Pacific Palisades neighborhood. During this sequence, a brawl arbitrarily ensues between Toby’s gang and another gang, which ends with both sides fleeing just before police arrive. Later that night, Toby’s gang goes to a raucous party at Eric’s house, and Allison’s relationship with Toby as well her other friends Emily (Bijou Phillips) and Sam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is further revealed.

The next day, Allison meets with her father (Michael Biehn) at work to discuss family problems, the awkward conversation revealing the virtual non-relationship Allison has with her parents. Afterwards, she and her friends drive downtown into East LA, intent on buying marijuana, eventually encountering Latino drug dealer Hector (Freddy Rodriguez) and his crew. Toby and Hector make a deal, but Toby believes that Hector did not sell him enough of the drug for what he paid, and attempts to confront Hector in a tough fashion, resulting in Hector pulling a gun on Toby, humiliating and emasculating him in front of his friends. Allison persuades Hector not to hurt Toby, and though she is outwardly concerned over the well-being of her boyfriend, it is evident that she is fascinated with the atmosphere she has just been exposed to.

The next night, Allison and her girlfriends return to the location of the drug deal. There, she and her friends once again meet up with Hector and his crew, and despite his skepticism of the girls Hector invites them to a party at his house. The girls have a good time, and before they leave, Hector informs Allison of a motel his crew regularly parties at, and invites her to stop by if she wishes.

The next day, Eric continues his film project at Allison’s home, and after Allison turns his interview of her into a bizarre mind-game, Eric informs her of his belief that she is the “loneliest person” he has ever met. That evening, Allison meets up with Hector again in a store, and he shows her around his neighborhood and talks about his family and lifestyle. His guided tour abruptly ends when the police arrive in force, ostensibly on a drug bust. Allison winds up being arrested with the other present gang members, but – save for an argument with her parents and Toby – is let off the hook. The experience only serves to increase Allison’s fascination with the machinations of the inner-city lifestyle. The night after her release, Allison and Emily agree to head downtown the next evening to hang out with Hector’s crew.

The two meet up with Hector and his gang at a motel, and a night of partying and drinking results in Allison and Emily asking Hector if they can join his crew. Hector informs them of their initiation; to join the gang, the two must roll dice; the number they roll corresponds to the number of gang members they must have sex with. Allison rolls a one, Emily rolls a three. Before things are underway, Allison has second thoughts. However, Emily initially does not, and continues the initiation with Hector despite Allison’s protests. Emily eventually freaks out after Hector motions for his gang members to join in simultaneously for some painful virgin anal. Allison finally breaks up the initiation, and the two leave the motel, distraught over what just occurred.

The next day after school, Allison returns to the motel and confronts Hector over what had happened the previous night. Allison demands to know why Hector and his crew treated her and Emily the way that they did, stating that what had happened wasn't what they wanted. Hector responds by chastising Allison for being nothing more than a game-playing poser who knows nothing about the realities of gang life, save what she may have been spoon-fed on T.V., and it was clear to him that the two girls have no business being anywhere near a real inner-city gang. Also that day, Emily is shown at a police station, accusing Hector and his crew of gang rape. Allison is brought in for questioning, but claims to know nothing about a rape.

Hector is subsequently arrested, and members of his crew vow to seek out and silence Allison and Emily, but wind up getting lost in Bel-Air while driving around Los Angeles trying to find Pacific Palisades. Meanwhile, Toby and his gang are shown posing with guns in front of Eric and his video camera, making clear their intent on seeking revenge on Hector’s crew for humiliating Toby and for what they allegedly did to Emily. Eric later shows Allison the footage, and Allison subsequently calls Toby and makes an ill-fated attempt to convince him that there was no rape and what he is doing is foolish.

Allison then heads to Emily’s house and reveals to Emily what Toby plans to do, and reveals to Emily’s parents the truth about what happened at the motel. Allison’s revelation of the truth to Emily’s parents initially upsets Emily to the point of nearly attempting suicide, but eventually the two reconcile. Meanwhile, Toby and his gang arrive at Hector’s motel and bust in violently, but only succeed in frightening a group of Latino women and a baby. Realizing their error, they leave, and on their drive home, the gang passes the SUV containing the members of Hector’s crew that had been looking for Allison and Emily. The two gangs exchange looks, and the screen subsequently fades to black; for a few seconds the audience can only hear the sounds of tires squealing, people shouting and gunshots being fired.

The final scene of the movie involves Eric wrapping up his film project with one last monologue given by Allison, in which she admits her naiveté of the world outside of what she knows in her sheltered life, and implies how much she values what she has learned from her experiences outside of that life.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Production

The original treatment of the script was written in 1993 by Jessica Kaplan, who was 14 years old at the time, and was based on her own observations of her affluent white classmates in West Los Angeles. Her script was sold to New Line Cinema two years later for $150,000. Originally titled "The Powers That Be," the script went unused for seven years, eventually gaining traction with the studio after it received a re-write as well as a new title from Stephen Gaghan. On June 6, 2003, shortly before filming began, Kaplan was killed in a plane crash in Los Angeles, along with four other people, including her uncle.[1] A dedication to Kaplan is shown preceding the credits at the end of the film.

Mandy Moore was originally cast as Allison, but dropped out and was replaced by her Princess Diaries co-star Anne Hathaway shortly before filming began.[2] Moore reportedly left the project because she decided that she felt too uncomfortable with the subject matter of the film.[3] Jena Malone, Moore's co-star from Saved!, was originally set to play Emily, but she left the project shortly after Moore's departure from the film.[2]

Filming took place around Southern California, including Los Angeles, Altadena, Brentwood and Santa Monica, in the fall of 2003.[4]

[edit] Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics, and has earned a 40% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 11 collected reviews. Mr. Skin has called Havoc the 10th greatest nude scene of all time[5].

Lisa Nesselson of Variety claimed that the movie "too often feels like a gussied-up '50s-style treatise about the dangers of nice girls flirting with social rebels," and suggested that the film be re-titled "Slumming for Dummies."[6] Maitland McDonagh of TV Guide stated that the movie was a minor effort that was even more disappointing after considering the highly-regarded names that had worked on the film, most notably former Academy Award winners Kopple and Gaghan.[7] Scott Weinberg of DVD Clinic was also critical of the film, claiming that it was "just another one of those 'lock up your daughters' cautionary tales that shoots for gritty 'street' reality and ends up eliciting chuckles from its intended audience." Weinberg compared the movie unfavorably to Catherine Hardwicke's 2003 film Thirteen and Bret Easton Ellis' 1985 novel Less Than Zero, stating that there was "nothing (in Havoc) that you haven't seen before. And better."[8] Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times was among the few noted critics that praised the film, calling it "harrowing and authentic," and also claimed that it might have made his list of top 10 films for 2005 had it received a proper theatrical release in the U.S.[9]

Various critics both praised and criticized Hathaway's performance in the movie. Some critics such as Christopher Null claimed that Hathaway's performance proved "without a doubt that she has been underutilized as an actress for far too long,"[10] while others such as David Quinlan claimed that Hathaway was both miscast and completely unbelievable in the film.[11]

[edit] Ratings

The film was banned in Malaysia; it received an R21 in Singapore (with an edited version receiving an M18), an M/16 in Portugal, a 16 in Germany, a VM18 in Italy, a thirteen in Argentina, a 16 in Iceland, an MA15+ in Australia, a K-15 in Finland, and an 18 in Peru.

[edit] See also

Normal Adolescent Behavior—an unrelated 2007 film—was released on Region 1 DVD under the title Normal Adolescent Behavior: Havoc 2. The DVD marketing implies that Normal Adolescent Behavior is a thematic sequel to Havoc, despite objections to the contrary from the 2007 film's writer/director.[12]

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117887662.html?categoryid=25&cs=1 "Obituaries: Jessica Kaplan" June 9, 2003.
  2. ^ a b http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0285175/trivia
  3. ^ http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=3921 "Ella Enchanted Nude?" March 29, 2004
  4. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0285175/locations
  5. ^ "The Top 100 Nude Scenes from Mr Skin". http://www.mrskin.com/top100#10-1. 
  6. ^ http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117928774.html?categoryid=31&cs=1 November 3, 2005.
  7. ^ http://movies.tvguide.com/havoc/review/198672#comments February 10, 2007.
  8. ^ http://www.joblo.com/dvdclinic/dvd_review.php?id=1044
  9. ^ http://tvplex.go.com/buenavista/ebertandroeper/video_2005.html "Weekend of December 3 - 4, 2005."
  10. ^ http://www.filmcritic.com/misc/emporium.nsf/reviews/Havoc
  11. ^ http://www.picturesthattalk.com/review.php?reviewid=88
  12. ^ Sampson, Mike (August 7, 2007). "There's a Havoc 2?". JoBlo.com. http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=17206. 

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havoc_(film)"