Hardcore Henry (2016)

Review

96min

Genre:      Action, Sci-fi

Director:   Ilya Naishuller

Cast:        Sharlto Copley, Haley Bennett, Danila Kozlovsky…and more

Writers:    Ilya Naishuller, Will Stewart

-Synopsis-

Brazen and violent video game style first-person action film placing the audience in the role of “Henry”; a resurrected cyborg operative with memory loss who’s on a mission to rescue his wife from the dangerous people who want his technology.

From the bloodthirsty James Bond-style opening credit sequence, ‘Hardcore Henry’ makes it abundantly clear what type of experience the audience is in for.

Writer director Ilya Naishuller essentially creates a 90 minute version of his YouTube sensation music video ‘Bad Motherfucker’; taking the modern video game ethos of fully immersive realism to the next level and projecting it in live-action form onto the big screen. Basically it’s an ultra-realistic and violent first-person shooter which you can’t control so sit back and enjoy the ride… if you can.

The action here is virtually non-stop and adrenaline fuelled, occasionally broken up by some actual “acting” in dialogue scenes that are just like the “story mode” elements of a video game, in this case moving the inconsequential story along and providing a sliver of context.

These scenes do however provide the only charm and humour in ‘Hardcore Henry’, through the appearances of Sharlto Copley in various bizarre guises as he ushers our hero through the madness in Moscow.

‘Hardcore Henry’ can be a jarring and nauseating experience… quite literally. No just because of the level of violence but thanks to the constantly jerky camera movements and general assault on the senses, this might not be a tolerable experience for people with motion sickness or epilepsy.

This bold Russian production is not without merit though; all the fights, stunts, guns and explosions make for what would be an invigorating 10-15 minute short, much like the music video it was based on. But the 90 minute experience is hard to stomach and difficult to enjoy, you might find yourself wanting it all to end well before it actually does.

Never has a film been such an original addition to a genre and completely derivative at the same time. Ilya Naishuller has essentially taken what millions of young people have been doing for years on their consoles, removed their control over it and projected it onto a big screen… while charging for it.

The Bottom Line…

Blood-soaked, adrenaline-fuelled madness; Ilya Naishuller’s all-action spectacle is thrilling in small doses but hard to stomach or enjoy as feature length motion picture. No doubt ‘Hardcore Henry’ will find a loyal modern audience but we can’t see how this “experiment” becomes a trend or a legitimate sub-genre… and it probably shouldn’t.

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Doom (2005)

Action/Sci-fi thriller based on the popular video game; starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the leader of a space Marines unit, whose rescue mission on a Mars research facility becomes a survival one as they battle dangerous genetically modified creatures.

Directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak and starring Dwayne Johnson, Karl Urban, Rosamund Pike among others.

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