In Sachen Henry

This film is about a guy who is a bit of a prick, he does not seem to get along all that well with his wife and he is not exactly all that warm and cuddly to his daughter. He goes out one night to buy some cigarettes and ends up in the middle of a hold up and ends up getting shot in the head and I think shoulder. He ends up with brain damage and must now learn how to do simple things all over again. He gets some help from a very charismatic health care worker who helps him walk and talk once again. Henry (the name of Harrison Ford's character) is a bit hesitant in going home and living with a wife and daughter he has very little recollection in, however, he does so and they are in for a treat as Henry is now seemingly a more loving and caring person than he was before. Nice story, not all drama as there is quite a lot of humor in this one too. I like it when he somehow finds his way into an adult movie theater. He also has troubles adjusting back to his old job where he was a rather ruthless attorney, as he keeps finding things that he left out that could have helped the other side. I enjoyed the story and I enjoyed the transformation of old Henry to new Henry. He learns about the old him throughout the movie and he finds he does not really care for who he was either. A nice trip of self-discovery.

I survived a serious skydiving accident in December of 2011. I 'came too' in a trauma center with no memory of what had occurred and the majority of my life. One of the major injuries was a brain bleed from a fractured skull with a Traumatic Brain Injury, or TBI. Learning everything from scratch has been a long tough road. I owe so much to my family that chose to stick it out with me.

In a change of pace from his usual "action" type movies, Harrison Ford does a pretty good job here as Henry Turner - a high powered, selfish, self-absorbed, heartless, cold as ice (enough adjectives?) lawyer whose life revolves around work and who ignores both his wife and his young daughter for most of the time. Henry's life undergoes a major change as the result of a shooting, which resulted in massive brain damage. Coming out of his coma, Henry can't talk or walk and has no memory of anything or anyone. He really does start from scratch; a child in a man's body. Much of the movie is then taken up with watching Henry struggle to recover from his trauma.

OK - it's pretty predictable. Point given. (Having said that, I thought the movie might take an unexpected direction when Henry discovered the letters in his wife's dresser.) Predictable though it may be, however, it was still pretty well done I thought, and offers several tug at your heartstring sort of moments that are pretty good. Annette Bening was believable as Henry's wife Sarah, and I thought Mikki Allen did a pretty good job of capturing the essence of their young daughter Rachel - her fear, her confusion. It came across. In my opinion, though, stealing the show was Bill Nunn as Bradley, Henry's physiotherapist who helps him to rebuild a life that's very different from what he had, but is also far more fulfilling.

Ford, I thought, was better as the "new" Henry Turner - recovering from his trauma and turning into a new man. As the cold Henry at the beginning of the movie, he came across to me as almost too cold - a caricature of the heartless lawyer but not quite a believable character. That aside, I found this to be an enjoyable and interesting movie to watch, and the last scene at the school really did touch me. It's certainly not good enough to attain the level of a classic, but it is pretty good. 7/10

Roger Ebert wasn't particularily fond of "Regarding Henry," because it is contrived, predictable, and sitcom-ish. And in retrospect, he's right on all accounts. But being a sucker for Harrison Ford, I had to watch Henry and I did like the movie, despite some obvious parts where scenes seem to be...well, missing. We do realize fairly quickly that this is going to be one of those "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" tales: the big, bad, dishonest lawyer who is turned into a new man. Albeit, Ford has a rough road to that reformation, via head injuries, a coma, physical therapy, etc, but we can see it coming a mile in advance. However, "Henry" boasts some touching moments, at least for me. When Henry begins therapy, the therapist asks the once-prominent lawyer to pick out the triangle from among some blocks. Although we don't see Henry's choice, we hear the therapist's encouraging voice: "Close. I'll give you a hint, that's not it." At that moment I couldn't help but wonder how desperate a situation it would be if someone I loved was there, struggling among rectangles and circles. Annette Bening and Ford are both intelligent actors who succeed in their roles, however underwritten they may be. But I wondered how probable certain situations were: Would Henry automatically love his wife because he's supposed to? What about their money problems?? Too many unanswered questions, but still worth a spin.

I keep reading about how "sappy" and "predictable" this film is. This is true, so I will tell you now, if you hate those types of films then this is not the film for you.

But if you miss seeing movies that you waited for the happy ending you knew was coming, then you will not be disappointed. There are so many movies that don't end so happily nowadays, but remembering the times with movies that had a character who had to learn a lesson but got something more in the end (eg. "It's a Wonderful Life") I couldn't help but enjoy this movie.

I highly recommend it, the acting is fantastic, the story is touching, and knowing what it's like to go through hard times (my own dad had to go through some rehabilitation) then this movie hits it home. I suggest it if you agree with the points above, but it's not for everyone.