Movies are made to elicit some sort of emotion. Some movies make you cry. Some make you laugh. There are those that make you think about the world from a different perspective and those that make you angry.
I've seen them all. Out of the thousands of movies I've seen, though, the upcoming movie Hardcore Henry is the only one that's prompted me to stare at the theater floor every minute or so and then casually jog to the bathroom to throw up. It's a special movie!
Hardcore Henry is the closest a movie has ever gotten to a true video game experience. Shot completely in a first person perspective, it takes you inside of a movie character in a way that no other movie has. Director Ilya Naishuller, whose previous work included two first person shorts, uses a GoPro Hero 3 camera to capture every move, every tick, every gust of wind that Henry experiences and you absolutely feel every bit of it. The effect puts the audience into the action in a completely unique way, as though you're the one jumping off of buildings, falling out of planes, or shooting your way out of a Russian strip club.
The story, too, is heavily influenced by first person shooter video games. It concerns a guy named, of course, Henry who wakes up one day to a beautiful woman attaching a leg and arm prothesis to some fresh stumps. She quickly lets him know that his name is Henry and that she, Estelle, a genius scientist and surgeon, is his wife. He'd been blown to smithereens, but she put him back together and made him better than he was before. Better. Stronger. Faster.
Within minutes, just as they are about to install Henry's voice box, a team of SWAT henchmen lead by villain Akan tear through the lab, kill everyone, and kidnap Estelle sending Henry on a rampage of revenge. Along the way, Henry is assisted by a crazy, hilarious sidekick named 'Jimmy.' Jimmy (played brilliantly tongue-in-cheek by Sharlto Copley) is along for every part of the ride, but keeps getting killed in exceedingly gruesome ways only to show up minutes later as an even stranger incarnation. A wisecracking mercenary, a vodka swilling hobo, a mostly naked coked up strip club patron, to a weed smoking hippie soldier, Jimmy is definitely the most generally entertaining part of the film.
It's a classic shoot 'em up video game plot reminiscent of games like Time Crisis or Silent Scope and the decision to not give Henry his own voice also helps the audience to feel a part of the action. The action is intense, too. It comes nauseatingly fast and grabs every sense the human body possesses and shakes them like a broken Magic 8 ball. Heads are blown off, people are cut into pieces and lit on fire, cars explode with frequency, and there are enough knife / sword fights to entertain the Crocodile Dundee in us all. It's an assault to the senses in every way.
Is there a lot to this movie outside of the central conceit and the excessive violence? Probably not, but if you go in expecting to basically live a whirlwind, merry-go-round action movie it might not matter. I wish I could say that the plot paid off or that there was a great twist at the end that made Hardcore Henry a worthwhile endeavor, but I have no idea. After an hour's worth of action cam running, falling through the air, being thrown from vehicles, and watching as a variety of weapons were thrown, stabbed, or shot at Henry, my stomach had reached the finish line and I missed the last half hour. In those brief moments of reflection while staring at the floor or clutching my retching gut as I stumbled to a theater stall (in a quite dignified manner, I assure you), it dawned on me that someone who loved first person shooters, action movies, or extreme sports would likely really enjoy the singular experience of Hardcore Henry. It's like nothing else out there. If you have a weak stomach and are want to barf, though, avoid this movie at all costs. Trust me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sca9U6IlAns
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