- Shaydeknight1d agoWatching Hardcore Henry is rather like watching someone else play through a first-person shooter, which is very much the point. There isn't a great deal of plot depth or thematic focus on offer, here. The real star of the show is the perspective itself, the experiment of shooting an entire feature film from the first-person point of view. I liked it rather more than I expected to, though I don't think I'd ever want to sit through another film built the same way. It's too disorienting for regular consumption. That said, this is a far more mass-market effort than most experimental cinema, and I'd argue the film draws directly on work done by earlier experimental filmmakers while doing something most audiences have never encountered before. Lady in the Lake, from 1947, was shot entirely in the first-person perspective, as was the more recent Maniac, from 2012. Hardcore Henry, however, fuses that camera style with explosive, sustained action in a genuinely new way. Many of the scenes were disorienting and difficult to watch, and I noticed my brain doing something rather interesting in response: I began instinctively imagining how each scene would look pulled back to a mid-distance, third-person view. It felt like a natural reaction to the almost claustrophobic sensation of experiencing everything strictly through the character's eyes, with no wider frame to orient oneself. There were also a handful of gross moments that struck me as unnecessary, though I understand why they were included. They lent the film a queasy, visceral sense of a body under siege, as though the camera itself were flinching, which suits a story about a man stitched back together and immediately sent out to be broken again. Some of the action takes were absolutely fantastic, particularly a chase sequence involving motorcycles. The film's one-take conceit really earned its keep there, and the spectacle was thoroughly engrossing. Sharlto Copley does an outstanding job, especially considering he plays multiple roles throughout. Without spoiling anything, there are scenes in which he shifts from character to character and the transitions are handled superbly. This isn't the old split-screen trick, with the same actor standing on two sides of a set. It's genuinely accomplished technical camera work, and his performance stays credible and grounded throughout, no matter how often the film asks him to change identity beneath it. Danila Kozlovsky also deserves credit for his work as the villain. He comes across as superbly unlikeable, and by the film's end, I was strongly desirous of his demise, which I have no doubt is exactly the reaction the director was after. All in all, a good film, and one I'm glad to have experienced, but it isn't something I feel any need to see more of.
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Hardcore Henry was released on September 12, 2015.
Hardcore Henry was directed by Ilya Naishuller.
Hardcore Henry has a runtime of 1h 36m.
Hardcore Henry was produced by Inga Vainshtein Smith, Timur Bekmambetov, Ilya Naishuller, Ekaterina Kononenko.
Henry, a newly resurrected cyborg who must save his wife/creator from the clutches of a psychotic tyrant with telekinetic powers, AKAN, and his army of mercenaries. Fighting alongside Henry is Jimmy, who is Henry's only hope to make it through the day. Hardcore Henry takes place over the course of one day, in Moscow, Russia.
The key characters in Hardcore Henry are Henry / Slick Dmitry (Andrey Dementyev), Jimmy (Sharlto Copley), Akan (Danila Kozlovsky).
Hardcore Henry is rated R.
Hardcore Henry is an Action, Adventure, Science Fiction film.
Hardcore Henry has an audience rating of 5.5 out of 10.
Hardcore Henry had a budget of $2M.
Hardcore Henry has made $16.8M at the box office.