Welsh director Gareth Evans has had a curious journey to date. His first film, 2006’s Footsteps was shot in his home land, and was followed by three films shot in Indonesia in the local lingo – 2009’s Merantau, and 2011’s The Raid and 2014’s The Raid 2 - with those last two certainly making an impression internationally.

His latest sees him go full circle, and although it’s set in a non-descript US city, it’s entirely shot in Cardiff.

It may well be Christmas, but there’s not much good spirit around, as a gang are in the process of stealing a shit load of washing machines. Yes, washing machines.

They’re not doing a particularly good job however, as the cops are hot on their tail. Unbeknownst to the young gang, the washing machines actually contain an impressive amount of drugs.

Luckily for them they get away, and now have a lot of drugs on them, so Charlie (Justin Cornwell) and Mia (Quelin Sepulveda) decide to take them to Triad hideout and sell them on.

Unfortunately for them, the deal goes south, amidst a brutal shoot-out, which finds the head of the Triads killed. The pair manage to flee before the cops arrive, but the word gets back to the head Triad’s mother (Yann Yann Yeo), who isn’t best pleased that her son has been murdered and seeks revenge.

Walking into the middle of this mess is cop Walker (Tom Hardy), as he makes his way into the murder scene littered with bodies. He has a number of connections on various sides, as he begins his investigation, but even he knows it won’t be easy getting to the bottom of this case.

With this film having finished filming in 2021, you might just wonder where the hell it’s been all this time. Well, various explanations/excuses have been offered, but with the SAG-AFTRA strike following in its wake, it kind of makes sense. Unlike the film itself.

Evans wrote the script himself, and when you have a director working on his own material, it’s difficult to question it. It’s disappointingly generic, with an overall plot that is simply too convoluted for its own good. Add to that some weak dialogue, and you have yourself an average film.

But Evans has a couple of aces up his sleeves, namely his impressive ability to shoot action sequences, with one in particular here that’s worth the price of admission alone, as it were. You can’t miss it, as it’s one of the longest scenes in the film, set within an industrial-styled club. It’s here that Evans shows what he’s made of, in a breathtakingly choreographed scene of sheer brutality, that comes off as somewhat of a homage to John Woo, even with a few bullet-time like sequences thrown in for good measure.

He has a stand out finale too, but it doesn’t quite have the impact of the club scene.

Hardy is acceptable, with what appears to be a Brando-styled Walker, quiet spoken and mumbling. His character is clearly flawed, being on the take as he is, but if that isn’t enough to inform us that he’s no good, he’s also a terrible father, buying his daughter’s presents from a convenience store, which sadly for her doesn’t even include a Peperami.

The excellent Timothy Olyphant also stars, alongside the superb Forest Whitaker, but neither of their roles or the material they have to work with match up to their high acting standards, which is a shame.

The fact it was shot in Cardiff however is impressive, as it’s completely unrecognisable which some might say, rather unfairly, can only be a good thing.

Although the script isn’t really up to scratch, fans of Evan’s vivid directing style will appreciate the full-on dynamism that Havoc brings.