Havoc (18)

Review by Carol Allen

Academy award winning documentary maker Kopple's first feature film is the story of a couple of spoiled brat Los Angeles teenage girls Alison and Emily (Hathaway and Phillips) flirting with the East LA "gangsta" culture, who get drawn right into it, when Alison gets involved with gang leader Hector (Rodriguez) and they find themselves in a situation too hot to handle. 

Initially I found the girls and their hangers on with their “wealthy whites doing street talk” speech and their whingeing about being bored extremely irritating in their self obsession.   However the combination of Kopple, whose documentary background brings Stephen Gaghan's (Traffic) screenplay to grittily realistic life and some very talented young actors soon drew me into the story.   Despite her perfect toothy smile, Anne Hathaway, who seemed somewhat bland in her earlier films, is now demonstrating what a versatile young actress she is.   Like all the other supposed high school students, she looks a bit old for the role, but she is still very convincing playing the role as an immature child, who looks too much like a mature young woman for her own good and who is totally out of her depth.   Freddy Rodriguez, that nice young man from television's "Six Feet Under" has also been demonstrating his versatility of late, most recently in "Harsh Times".   He is extremely good in this as the ruthless drug dealer Hector, at times vulnerably charming, while also unpredictable and chillingly scary.  Michael Biehn and Laura San Giacomo make an impact in the comparatively small roles of Alison's parents, so involved in their own petty concerns that they have no idea what their daughter is up to.  

This is a very disturbing film and a powerful illustration of the destructive effects of an economically divided society..   It also has a very good hip hop soundtrack.