Hardcore Henry
"Henry, Fight Back! You are capable of more than you think!" -Estelle
Hardcore Henry is directed by Ilya Naishuller (first time director) and stars Sharlto Copley as Jimmy, Haley Bennett as Estelle, Danila Kozlovsky as Akan, Andrei Dementiev as Slick Dmitry, and Tim Roth as Henry's Father.
Holy fucking shit! What a wild ride!
Hardcore Henry is a first person movie, literally just in a first person point of view throughout the entire movie (except maybe for 15 seconds of it's entirety). It centers around a cyberneticlly modified human named Henry with no memory of his past. His wife, Estelle, subsequently after he is transformed into a super soldier, gets kidnapped by the telekinetic Akan, the head of an evil corporation that wants to create super soldiers and take over the world. He must fight his way, with the accompaniment of crazed weirdo Jimmy, through Akan's henchmen and his super soldiers to rip the shit out of Akan himself.
Get some, motherfucker!
I have to get the EXPLICIT review out of the way: I'm doing another unplanned one because this film was intense enough that I pretty much have to curse. Hardcore Henry was fucking adrenaline fueled from start to finish. Props to the stunt department for doing stuff that looks crazy intense. As a first person film from the beginning, Hardcore Henry will be a lot to take in if you get woozy easily. It actually would be best to skip a movie like this just because you will get annoyed by the camera movement, for sure. Though if you're a gamer, especially a fan of first person shooters, I strongly suggest that you see this movie just for the experience of being put into the shoes of a character who commits lots of bloody and violent acts with guns, his fists, knives, and other weapons. Yes, an experience that is really non-stop. Plus, it's immersive as fuck! You should really watch it as though your playing a video game and pretend like it's actually you performing these atrocities for revenge. If you don't, the experience really won't be worthwhile. I watched it as a film in some scenes and I just couldn't get into it because there was too much going on. Basically pandemonium that was there for no reason. However, when I watched it as playing a video game, I had a really fucking good time. The thing is, Hardcore Henry is a movie...
Which gun should I use to blow off Akan's head with...shotgun it is!
Hardcore Henry is a cinematic experience, but since it is a movie and not a video game, I feel like it tried too hard to work on it's visuals rather than the story. This is, unfortunately, a very common mistake for many films nowadays. With every story, the protagonist should be the character with the most character development. There's practically no information on Henry in Hardcore Henry besides knowing that he is a super strong cyborg and that his wife was kidnapped by Akan. This is due to, what I believe is, Henry not being able to talk at all during the whole movie. Like I said, as a video game looking movie, this is really cool because of the experience factor, but as a movie, that just doesn't fly. There needs to be some sort of characterization to make me feel empathy for any of the characters.
God damn, it would be helpful to say something in a situation like this.
The character with the most characterization in Hardcore Henry is without a doubt Sharlto Copley's Jimmy. Holy shit was this guy's performance versatile and amazing. I've loved his work since District 9, even though that one is a completely different role than this one. I'm not going to spoil anything on his part in the movie, but please, if you're on the fence of either seeing Hardcore Henry or not seeing it, let Sharlto Copley's performance make the decision. Go see it for him! Everybody else was fine as their own characters, even though there isn't much meat to them. I blame the writing for that. I'll say it again: Hardcore Henry chose aesthetics over content. I hate it when movies or books or video games do that shit! Still, there's plenty here in Hardcore Henry to make you have a good time.
Sharlto. What the actual fuck is up with you?...It's weird. Nevertheless, it's awesome as hell!
Hardcore Henry is definitely amazing in its action sequences and it's stunt work, but the story fell flat on its face as soon as the bullets started storming in. In retrospect, I have to say I had a really good time watching it. I also understand that this movie is very niche. A lot of people won't like it and for good reason. However, if you don't easily get sick with fast paced movement and you just want to have a kick ass time with tons of violence, then please do yourself a favor and go see Hardcore Henry. I'm rating it as a movie, though, because it was a movie, albeit a video game movie. I could see through the bloody cracks of Hardcore Henry and see that there were flaws amidst the crazy fucking fun brutality.
3.8/5
PRO
- Crazy violent fun first person experience!
- Stunt work is commendable
- Sharlto Copley's performance
CON
- No characterization or character arch totally worth caring about
- Forgets that it's a movie rather than an actual video game
- Very niche
Hardcore Henry is rated R for non-stop brutal violence and mayhem, language throughout, sexual content/nudity, and drug use
Click here to watch the trailer
Hardcore Henry is in theaters everywhere now
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