Hardcore Henry

Hardcore Henry

Theater worthy!

            This film is absolute adrenaline! Seriously, if the seats inside the theater were to move and had some “4D” elements to it then the movie experience would look, and feel, like you’re on a 90 minute long roller coaster! Now, that being said I will utter a word of caution here. If you tend to get nauseated easily, or if you’re a bit tipsy before the movie, then you may want to rethink seeing it. At least until you can see it outside of theaters. I say this because from the way that it’s shot, because of how fast everything moves, and how long you’re watching the movie unfold the way that it does, it seems like it won’t take much to make some of you sick fairly fast. I myself don’t get sick all too easily, but even I had a hard time holding it together for some those scenes. If you think you can handle it then great, you’ll definitely enjoy what the movie has to offer.

            For those of you who have played a lot of first person shooter games then this might become your new favorite film. Some of you who like to just watch first person players do their thing on YouTube then this might become your new favorite film as well. But for those of you who don’t play a lot of first person shooters, or don’t really even know what a first person shooter is (might want to look it up), you’ll probably still find yourself with a gaping mouth and wide eyes like I had. But be prepared, because this isn’t like any action you’ve seen before.  

            At first it feels uncomfortable since we're not used seeing a movie shot like this. You might think it’s going to look like the “found footage” films seen largely in the horror genre, but in fact, it is going to look more like the GoPro videos you can find on YouTube. This uncomfortable feeling never truly goes away because throughout the film, as previously stated, it's shot like no other action film seen before. We’re accustomed to a film with some kind of proper story structure, character development, and the such, and we’re also used to a certain way action movies are shot and presented to us. The way that Hardcore Henry is shot either defies or ignores most of these familiar concepts, practices, or notions. First person actions films, like End of Watch (2012), or found footage films like Chronicle (Michael B. Jordan, 2012), all feel different than Hardcore Henry because they all still use surveillance footage, dash-cams, 3rd person cameras, and generic establishing shots. Hardcore Henry, from beginning to end, is 100%, in your face, first person action. For the sake of the film you ARE Hardcore Henry and it CAN mess with your senses. This is especially true for a theater setting. Because of this you may never fully adjust to the way the movie is shot but it does get easier to watch throughout the film. The more embedded you are, the less uncomfortable it is to watch.

            While the concept is crazy the whole movie itself is crazy creative. I mean this in every sense of both words, both separately and used together. The speed, the carnage, the story, the characters, everything absolutely crazy in terms of a modern day action story. It’s also very creative. I’m not just talking about the concepts that are put into the film in order to make the story work, but also talking about how the film was physically produced. Doing an entire action film in first person, with a character that doesn’t talk no less, is a film that would present a creative challenge for any director in Hollywood. But congratulations to director Ilya Naishuller because this is a true masterpiece of action! It’s like watching a professional gamer playing C.O.D (Call of Duty) on an expert level! At some points of the film there is just so much fighting and killing, mostly at the hands of Henry and Jimmy (Sharlto Copely), that you’re just experiencing a fast paced marathon of massacre . . . and you LOVE IT!!!

        

             Now moving on to some finer points for praise of the film we have the opening credits and the first 5 or so minutes of the film itself. Usually the most fragile part of a movie, or just any story for that matter, is the ending. The ending is the feeling that you’re left with, the freshest impression you have of the film and how good it was . . . or bad. For this though the beginning was just as important as the end. This is because of the unique way the film is shot and presented. Since the main character, Henry, can’t speak then you can’t spend a lot of time trying to set up the film through talking. It would just be a string of monologues that wouldn’t take long to become boring, annoying, and a little awkward while waiting for the action to start. So, the movie starts out with a childhood memory from Henry’s past, which then leads into the beginning credits sequence. The beginning credits sequence gives you a little preview into the action and violence you’re about to witness. It's like Hardcore Henry's version of a James Bond intro! To me it felt like the slow and exciting rise to the first drop of a roller coaster. Fortunately after that the story only takes about 5 minutes or so for someone, I won’t spoil who, to deliver the most basic of set ups for the film. After 5 minutes of setting up whose eyes we’re seeing the story through, what’s happening to him, and why he can’t talk, the action immediately starts and doesn’t stop for the rest of the film.

            The characters, most of whom are played by Sharlto Copely (District 9, A-Team), are an interesting aspect of the film as well. Most of the characters in the film are introduced so fast, and die even faster, that you don’t really have any time to form any emotional attachments to any of the characters, even Henry. I mean yeah, sure . . . you obviously want Henry to win because he’s the good guy, but whether he wins or not you’re more invested in seeing who he’s going to beat up or kill next rather than if he survives. That’s something I really loved about this movie. There’s no real emotional attachments, just straight up adrenaline! And although there’s very little emotion to be found there is a flurry of funny lines written in and brilliantly delivered throughout the film. Sharlto is one of the craziest and strangest performers I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching in any film. The guy just knows how to make you scratch your head and laugh at the same time. Which, which you will do. Believe me!

            If I had to relate this movie to anything I’ve ever seen before it’d have to be three movies and one game. This movie has the intensity and brutality of the movie Crank (Jason Statham, 2006), it also has the bizarre and overly dramatic shoot out scenes as in the movie Shoot ‘Em Up (Clive Owen, 2007), and an extra element from the Resident Evil series that I’ll get into in a second, along with the look and feel of the flagship first person shooter game Call of Duty. It’s Crank, meets Shoot Em’ Up, meets Call of Duty. And to add to that we have the movie’s bad guy, a man called Akan. Now, this character is where you REALLY have to leave an open mind because even for a movie with very few rules this guy still almost manages not to fit in. Akan is a mystery, we don’t know much about him and we know absolutely nothing about how he can do what he does. Now, what he does is something I will leave up to you to find out the fun way . . . by going to watch it . . . but I will say this much. He reminds me of some kind of boss or enemy that you may find in a Resident Evil game, or from one of the more recent films. Shrouded in mystery, this character, due the way that he is introduced and the lack of information given on him, would fail in almost any movie. Fortunately this character is in such a weird and awesome movie that he just sort of blends in with the film. As long as you don’t take this particular film too seriously I guarantee you’ll enjoy watching him and Henry fight.

            So with that I hope that you enjoy the film. It’s one of the fastest action packed films I’ve ever seen with more carnage and destruction than most action trilogies hope to fit in. The character ideas are unique and each one more entertaining than the last. The only thing more interesting than the characters themselves is the way that each character dies. Don’t see it if you get sick really easy. If you do see the movie then enjoy meeting Big Sally … you’ll see what I mean. And one more thing. In the words of Jimmy (Sharlto Copely), “A grenade a day keeps the enemy at bay!”