'Hardcore Henry' Review

Hardcore Henry is an interesting action film in regards to the entire film being shot from a first person perspective. Yes, the ENTIRE film is shot in this first person point of view perspective. Now, many will take a glance at this and say that it looks like a first person shooter video game and honestly that's a very accurate summation of Hardcore Henry  There are many elements in the film that make it feel even more like a video game that I'll discuss while avoiding spoilers because if you're going to see this film I recommend going in knowing the bare minimum of the film's plot and a consensus of what the film will feel like. There are many times while watching the film where I felt like I was watching a skilled gamer playing a first person shooter and this was due to many reasons. First and foremost, obviously the combination of the first person perspective and intense action provides a video game-like atmosphere. The first person point of view definitely enhances the experience as it immerses the viewer in this environment. I will admit that it takes about 30 minutes into the film to get used to this type of camerawork, but once you adjust you will be sucked into the film and feel as though you actually are Henry. I deem that it's only appropriate to commend many of the creative talents responsible for the first person immersion including director, Ilya Naishuller, the cinematographers and the stunt crew. The combination of these creative forces resulted in an awesome filmgoing experience and allowed for some incredible action sequences. One action sequence that stood out to me was the climactic fight towards the end on a rooftop, that was literally pumped with adrenaline (You'll understand once you see the film). Aside from this sequence, a lot of the action did blend together and none of it was particularly noteworthy because it all seemed similar. Don't be startled though, as all of these action sequences are definitely awe-inspiring, but the fact that it's so jumbled together makes it easy to take the experience for granted. The fact that the film is essentially one action sequence after another with little room for exposition doesn't help. However, all of the action features extremely well choreographed stuntwork and for the most part, some great visuals. Although towards the end, you could tell the creative team was running out of money in the visual effects budget as some of the explosions looked very fake. Secondly, the film goes out of it's way to ensure that the lead character, Henry, is given a waypoint directing him to the next action scene. Any of my readers that are gamers as well are very familiar with the concept of a waypoint, which is a form of exposition that directs the character to the next mission or next objective, and Hardcore Henry has LOTS of waypoints sprinkled throughout the film used as convenient plot devices. As for some of my other nitpicks with the film, I found that the film is very fast paced, rolling from one action scene to another, and while I'd much prefer a fast pace to a slow burn, this does make some portions of the film seem a little confusing and incoherent. This left little room for exposition and when exposition is given, it seems very rushed and doesn't quite explain what is going on. Now I understand that this could have been an intentional concept from the filmmakers to further put the audience in Henry's shoes and I'm all for that but it only goes to make the film feel that much more like a video game. Another tiny thing that bothered me was that the camera was extremely shaky for the first portion of the film. Shaky cam can be extremely bothersome and annoy me to no end in some cases when it's used poorly, but when used correctly enhances the thrill of the action. Hardcore Henry lands in the middle of that spectrum as there are times that it definitely made the experience more authentic, but almost every time Henry ran the camera would shake around quite a bit. I'm sure this had more to do with the camera rather than the stunt team that portrayed Henry but I know that when I run my head doesn't bobble around nearly as much as what I witnessed. I'd highly recommend staying away from Hardcore Henry for anyone that is prone to motion sickness as I'm not a victim and even I found myself feeling a little nauseated at times. My final nitpick is that the film lacks any development whatsoever for almost every character with the exception of a select few. After the entire one hour thirty minute runtime, I still feel as though I learned absolutely nothing about Henry's character, aside from the fact he's some kind of cyborg and can kick a lot of butt. Other than those two things, there's a lot of flashbacks that cut in throughout the film as Henry regains his memory, but none of them are really explained too well or go into much depth at all, leaving behind a mysterious past for Henry to explore in potential future installments. I wouldn't have an issue with this if there are indeed sequels planned because future installments would be welcomed and a great opportunity to flesh out Henry's backstory. In regards to performances, there are a few key characters but outside of these four roles everyone else is something for Henry to brutally murder. Henry is not portrayed by an actor though, but actually by multiple stuntmen running around pakouring with a Go-Pro attached to them. Henry also has no lines of dialogue, as the character is mute and doesn't utter any dialogue for the entire running time. Seems convenient for the stunt team, right? Well, I was ok with this as it reminded me of most first person shooters, where the lead character typically is a silent roguish hero. The glue that holds every piece of this film together is surprisingly the supporting wide variety of caricatures played by Sharlto Copley. Yes, I said it, caricatures. Multiple roles. But seeing his characters pop up make the film all the more fun and certainly enhanced the experience. The double edged sword to this was that as soon as Copley was absent from the screen, the film lost a little of it's charm. It manages to make up for this with the brilliant soundtrack that amasses a number of thrilling hits. Haley Bennett makes for a generic damsel in distress as Henry's wife, Estelle, who is constantly in danger and Danila Kozlovsky certainly does chew the scenery as the most cartoonish villain I've seen since ...well Lex Luthor in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice so I guess it wasn't too long ago. Kozlovsky's super powered diabolical threat certainly looms over Henry for the entirety of the film but Akan is played to be quite the cookie-cutter generic villain with unclear motivation (Although eventually this is filled in). In summation, I can say that Hardcore Henry certainly is no performance piece but practically an hour and a half of nonstop graphic violence. Speaking of which, this film is a very hard "R" with lots of graphic violence, language, and some brief nudity so I can't advise that any parent bring a child to see Hardcore Henry, as I'd consider it to being a harder "R" rating than even Deadpool. I can however recommend it to action movie fans, those interested in the first person perspective aspect of the film, and gamers. This film is certainly tailored to that specific demographic and I think they will get the most enjoyment out of Hardcore Henry.  If the very idea of the film at least intrigues you, I'd advise you at least give the film a chance as I can attest for the film being one hour and thirty minutes of an entertaining first person thrill ride. 

Film Assessment: B