Havoc

Havoc is an American film which stars Anne Hathaway, Bijou Phillips, Shiri Appleby, Freddy Rodriguez, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Biehn and Laura San Giacomo. The movies evolves in the life of two teenage girls,Allison( Hathaway) and Emily (Phillips) who were exposed to hip-hop culture which later on inspires them both to imitate a gangster lifestyle. To amuse herself she adopts a faux gangster personality with her friends, and during a drug buy-gone-sour one night, she becomes enamored with the real thing. That's it in a nutshell, though the story is more about how alienated Allison is in the real world, and how her gangsta persona is really just a sad put-on. Ultimately, a romance with gang leader Hector (Freddy Rodriguez, unrecognizable from his clean-cut Six Feet Under days) feels forced and wholly unrealistic, and it quickly grinds the film to a sudden ending.

Written by Stephen Gaghan, the film has more in common with his lesser works like Abandon than it does with his vaunted Traffic. And while the press has focused on what a departure this is for Hathaway, less has been said of its director: Oscar-winning documentarian Barbara Kopple (Harlan County, U.S.A., American Dream, Wild Man Blues), who creates her first and only narrative feature film here, after 30 years in the business. While Kopple's done similar work for TV shows like Oz, I was stunned to see how adept she was with what amounts to an undeveloped script and a difficult story.

Genre: Drama

Synopsis: 'Havoc' is a searing vision of teen culture as it clashes with the real world of urban Latino gangsters. Compelling and comic, contemporary and tragic, this music-driven tale follows two beautiful girls on their journey from the safety of their suburban homes into the dangerous underworld of East L.A., where they learn that even innocent actions have consequences.