"Havoc" (2005)

"Havoc" Movie Poster"

In response to the feedback I've gotten from my last post, I'm going to continue the trend of incorporating a movie's trailer into the review. A trailer says a lot about a movie even before someone pays money to go see it, at least that's what people think when they view these 1 1/2 to 2-minute long clips from the movie.

Thanks to Kyle for recommending (and letting me borrow the DVD) "Havoc" from 2005. It's a good movie starring Anne Hathaway, Bijou Phillips, Freddy Rodriguez, and a host of other great actors and actresses.

I easily found the trailer for "Havoc" on YouTube. It runs 1 minute, 56 seconds. Immediately, within the first few seconds I was intrigued by the characters and the action. It starts out with a girl being videotaped, a tough look on her face, asking "So you wanna know about us?" as the opening chords of either a rap or hip-hop song plays in the background. As her male friend points the camera at her and the scene switches to her walking with her friends, she says, "We live very sheltered lives."

The voice-over kicks in within in a few seconds with the interspersed lines, "They're rich...They're young...They want something real." As the black-haired girl and her friends explore the city, particularly at night, one of the girls suggest that they go downtown to explore the whole new world. Suddenly, the group of girls are gathered in a room, and one of the girls, with a raised voice, says, "There is a monetary zone of geography which we're not allowed to pass," as the scene cuts to a Mexican man approaching one of the girls, looking angry. Then suddenly, the same guy says, "You wanna come to a party?"

As party scenes and landscapes of the city fly by, the voice-over continues: "In every city, there are unspoken rules about where you can go, and who you can be with."

"None of it really matters. We're just teenagers, and we're bored," one of the girls says as guns are drawn, fights break out, and basically all hell breaks loose.

The cover of the DVD shows Hathaway's character lying on her back, being nuzzled by her Mexican love interest. The tagline: "Some lines are not meant to be crossed."

The whole premise of the movie is showing how bored Los Angeles teenagers have gotten, and how far they push their limits. Allison (Hathaway) and Emily (Phillips) leave their upscale suburb for a joyride through East L.A. As they are exposed to horrifying things such as drugs, gang brutality and violence, they don't become scared - they become infatuated.

Hathaway gives a stunning performance as Allison, who is a rich girl who can have anything she wants. She is an erotic character who literally has everything and can get anything - drugs, sex, and more. Scenes in the movie include her snorting cocaine, drinking multiple kinds of alcohol, and of course, having sex with multiple people.

Unfortunately, Allison and Emily's adventure into East L.A. becomes increasingly dangerous as rival gangs become involved over drugs and turf, the Mexicans versus the Pacific Palisades rich kids. What began as a film project by Allison's friend Eric (Matt O'Leary) to document the teen's faux-gangsta lifestyle becomes scary as Allison's boyfriend Toby (Mike Vogel) is involved in a gang, which has multiple skirmishes with rival gangs throughout the film.

As the movie progresses in a blur of action, both physical and sexual, Allison and her friends learn how truly sheltered their lives have been, and what they learned about the world outside of their former lives.

As always, I welcome comments, questions, criticism, and recommendations!

Thanks for reading!

-Laura Beth :)