English actor Tom Hardy is starring in a new British crime drama series on Showtime/Paramount+, “MobLand,” and his unique screen presence is the biggest reason the show rises to a level above middling.

The mumbling. The sly retorts. The measured but terrifying threats of violence if his character does not get the results he’s seeking.

It’s all just very Tom Hardy in the best way.

On the other hand, his particular set of acting skills is not enough to prop up “Havoc,” a disappointing action drama TV movie debuting this week on Netflix.

“Havoc” offers the entirely enticing pairing of Hardy, whose myriad credits also include Christopher Nolan films such as “The Dark Knight Rises” and “Inception,” and Welsh writer-director Gareth Evans, who’s become a star in the realm of action directing thanks to 2011’s “The Raid” and its similarly well-regarded 2014 sequel, “The Raid 2,” aka “The Raid: Retaliation.”

To be sure, “Havoc” boasts a few sit-up-and-take-notice action sequences. They’re inventive. They’re stylized. They're uber-violent. They’re fun — if, you know, you go for that sort of thing.

They’re also not the norm in “Havoc,” which relies more heavily on Evans' storytelling and dialogue.

Houston, we have a problem.

That problem is hinted at from the cliched opening narration of Hardy’s character, a dirty police detective. Walker, in a deliberately unnamed American city. Walker rambles on about the choices you make, how you justify them and how, eventually, you can’t justify them and they result in your life being worthless. This is all set over a montage of criminal behavior being conducted by Walker and other cops.

And hey, perhaps all of that would be fine if it were truly setting up the tale told in “Havoc.” As it happens, Walker’s sins are just a piece of a needlessly complex puzzle. Along with the dirty cops, Evans presents us with a crooked mayoral candidate and his missing estranged son, washing machines containing cocaine, a drug deal going badly, a furious high-ranking member of an Asian drug syndicate and more.

In the press notes for “Havoc,” Evans says he came up with the basic idea for the movie while promoting his previous film, the stronger “Apostle,” a 2018 Netflix release.

“I said, ‘All I want to do is this 100-minute action film,’ and all I had at that moment in my head was an image of a cop at a crime scene scooping a mound of cocaine into an empty coffee cup,” says Evans. “And that’s all I had.”

Despite all the moving parts that now comprise “Havoc,” he doesn’t have much more in any meaningful way.

Watching “Havoc,” you are virtually smothered by all the try-hard, from the convoluted plotting of Evans, to the film’s overly grimy look courtesy of his longtime director of photography, Matt Flannery, to the overacting of Hardy and the likewise talented Forest Whitaker (“The Last King of Scotland”), who portrays the candidate for mayor, shady real estate mogul Lawrence Beaumont.

Hardy and Whitaker share a scene early on, in which Beaumont coerces Walker into trying to find Beaumont’s son, Charlie (Justin Cornwell), who’s wanted by the syndicate after the disastrous drug deal. It should be fire, but, despite some yelling, it doesn’t even generate much smoke.

Better work, if only because it’s turned down a couple of notches, is offered by Timothy Olyphant (“Deadwood”), as Vincent, one of Walker’s partners in police crime, with whom he now finds himself at odds; and Jessie Mei Li (“Shadow and Bone”), as Ellie, a green officer partnered with Walker early in the story whom he keeps at a distance but whose help he quickly will need.

Honestly, it feels as if Li is performing in a different movie — one you may be a little more interested in watching.

Other members of the “Havoc” ensemble include Malaysian actress Yeo Yann Yann, as Mother, the vengeful power player with the crime syndicate, the Triads; Quelin Sepulveda, as Mia, Charlie’s girlfriend, who’s also a target of the Triads and of Vincent; and Luis Guzmán, Mia’s uncle Raul, who works to keep her safe. None moves the needle, although veteran actor Guzmán and Hardy share one of the movie’s more enjoyable scenes.

Yet that scene and the nifty action sequences are not enough to recommend “Havoc,’ even if it's just a few clicks of your smart TV’s remote away.

Maybe scroll over to Paramount+ to check out “MobLand,” though.

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'HAVOC'

Rating: TV-MA

Running time: 1:45

How to watch: On Netflix April 25

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