Henry can’t remember anything about his past.
The only thing he knows is his wife was kidnapped and those who took her must pay.
“Hardcore Henry†is an action-packed bloodbath that feels like you are playing a blend of “Doom” and “Duke Nukem.” With startling death scenes at the hands of various weapons and even a tank, you are only missing the bubble gum.
Henry wakes up with his wife screwing his leg back on and telling him that not only is he a cyborg but they are married. Before Henry has time to process what any of this means the facility is under attack and his wife is kidnapped. With the help of Jimmy he must now fight his way through Russia to get her back.
In Ilya Naishuller’s first full-length film, “Hardcore Henry†brings the world of first person shooters (FPS) to the big screen. The entire movie is shot with a GoPro to give the audience the feel of being Henry. Even going as far as no voice acting by Henry himself so you are meant to get the feel of performing all of the actions yourself. The decision to not give Henry a voice is interesting and gets him into some interesting situations.
The plot is not that in depth, which is exactly what you would expect from an FPS game. It allows the audience to follow along easy enough without leaving to many questions unanswered.
With the movie being shot completely with a GoPro some of the more action intensive scenes receive some blurry frames. If you are prone to motion sickness then “Hardcore Henry†will have you closing your eyes to try and get your center back with the director’s FPS style of filming.
This is not the first time Naishuller has taken this type of an approach to a film. Also directing the music video “Bad Motherfucker†for Russian band Biting Elbows using a GoPro on an unnamed viewer. What he ended up with was a 5-minute short that tracks the “hero†escaping execution and shooting his way out of office buildings and rooftops.
While “Hardcore Henry†is trying to get the audience to feel like they are Henry instead you get the feeling you are watching a buddy playing an FPS. You are watching them play and make decisions but they are not necessarily the decisions you would make. While it is entertaining the interactions between Henry and jimmy or his wife sometimes don’t seem to mesh with the decision the viewer would have made throwing off the feeling the director was going for.
The relationship between Henry and Jimmy is a unique one due to knowing nothing about Jimmy. He seems to always show up at the perfect time and even more intriguing is always seems to be a different person. Like the assassin “Red Jenny†from Dragon Age: Inquisition it seems Jimmy is more of a group of people rather than one person. Almost comically reappearing as a different person, knowing more about you then you seem to know about yourself. He provides Henry with the arsenal and knowledge to take down those who have taken from him.
One thing that is certain is the death count for Henry would have been able to build a wall of bodies that would have made Leonidas and his mighty 300 proud.
“Hardcore Henry†will appeal more to the gamer then the everyday movie critic. Going to watch this movie for an in depth plot will have you leaving disappointed. Similar to action movies of the 80’s you are there to watch body counts pile up and action scene followed by yet another action scene. It does a nice job paying homage to action movies of old while adding a modern twist with the FPS angle.
Leave a Reply