Havoc (2005)

Two affluent suburban girls clash with the Latino gang culture of East Los Angeles.

Director:

Barbara Kopple

Writers:

Stephen Gaghan (story), Jessica Kaplan (story)

Stars:

Anne Hathaway, Bijou Phillips, Shiri Appleby

1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Anne Hathaway	...	Allison Lang
Bijou Phillips	...	Emily
Shiri Appleby	...	Amanda
Michael Biehn	...	Stuart Lang
Joseph Gordon-Levitt	...	Sam
Matt O'Leary	...	Eric
Freddy Rodríguez	...	Hector
Laura San Giacomo	...	Joanna Lang
Mike Vogel	...	Toby
Raymond Cruz	...	Chino
Alexis Dziena	...	Sasha
Channing Tatum	...	Nick
Jose Luis Vasquez	...	Manuel (as Johnny Vasquez)
Luis Robledo	...	Ace
Sam Hennings	...	Mr. Rubin

Storyline

A pair of naive young girls learn that even the most insignificant actions can have lasting consequences. Influenced by the hip-hop thug lifestyle and seeking to explore life outside of their insulated, culturally homogenized suburb, pretty young teenagers Allison and Emily set their sights on East L.A. to experience the "gangsta" lifestyle firsthand. By the time the pair meet a ruthless Mexican drug dealer named Hector, some true-life Latino gang-bangers, and realize just how far out of their element they really are, it may already be too late to turn back.

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Plot Keywords:

sex scene | promiscuity | mini skirt | sex in car | female nudity | 

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Taglines:

Sex! Crime! Drugs! We are Kids in America! (German 2011 DVD re-release)

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity, pervasive language, violence, drug and alcohol use - all involving teens

Details

Country:

USA Germany

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

16 October 2005 (Armenia)

Also Known As:

The Powers That Be

Filming Locations:

MacArthur Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$9,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Media 8 Entertainment,Stuhall Productions,S.R.O. Entertainment AG

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min 93 min (unrated)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Raymond Cruz and Michael Biehn previously appeared together in The Rock (1996).

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Goofs

When Allison is asking the boy shooting the film if he wants to sleep with her and begins seducing him, her pants go from buttoned to unbuttoned and back again.

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Quotes

Hector: Fuckin' white people.

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Alternate Versions

"R" rated theatrical and international version running time is 86 minutes. Unrated and extended DVD version running time is 93 minutes. The unrated and extended DVD version was edited by New Line Home Entertainment.

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Connections

References Primetime: Episode dated 4 December 2002 (2002)

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Soundtracks

Loco En El Coco
(Insane in the Brain)
Written by B-Real, Senen Reyes and Larry E. Muggerud
Performed by Cypress Hill
Courtesy of Columbia Records, by arrangement with Sony BMG Music Licensing
Universal Music Corp., Soul Assassin Music and BMG Songs Inc.
Under license from BMG Film & TV Music

User Reviews

A middle view

It seems that this is one of those films that people either love or hate. I'm more in the middle. At times I found Havoc annoying, but as it progressed, the story became more engaging, and you're supposed to find aspects of it annoying.

Anne Hathaway--who is trying her hardest here to distance herself from her previous Disney and family film image by choosing a role where she's naked and sexual as often as possible--plays Allison, a rich, enigmatic high school student, wrapped up with a very plastic wannabe-gangsta-rapper group of white kids. They have a minor encounter with a Mexican gang in East L.A., and Hathaway finds herself (somewhat) inexplicably drawn to the Mexican gang. She keeps returning to visit one of the leaders, Hector (Freddy Rodriguez). At one point things become more complicated, as the audience surely expects.

The annoying aspect of the film is the rich kid gangsta posers. They seem incredibly fake, stupid and ridiculous. But on the other hand, that's pretty much the point. Los Angeles certainly has a reputation, somewhat deserved, for plasticity, so I suppose that Los Angeles high schools would be even worse, because a large percentage of high school students everywhere tend to conform to some clique or another (as do many adults, for that matter, but the "join a club to fit in and be accepted" mentality is usually more transparent and focused in high school). So the main characters should be annoying, and Allison, and later her friend Emily (Bijou Phillips), should be frustrating in their lack of direction and independent identity.

The problem with Havoc, however, is that the bulk of the running time is given to this irksome, frustrating and ridiculous group of characters. That's not exactly a recipe for falling in love with a film. Both Allison and the audience will likely respond to the Mexican gang better because there is an air of authenticity present with them, thanks largely to the cast playing those roles, but they're just not in the film enough, and the climax and dénouement are far less than satisfactory in that regard. Likewise, one rich kid character who is making an amateur documentary on the rich kid "gang" comes across as more authentic and interesting, but he ends up having an inexcusably minor role.

Still, if you can bear the inundation of poser behavior and lingo, there is an interesting story somewhat buried here, plus some attractive cinematography, a good soundtrack (both the songs and the more traditional score), and I'm certainly not complaining about seeing, um, more of Anne Hathaway. Approach this one with a lot of caution, but it's easy to see how it could be a gem for some.