Hardcore

Crazy, action packed and also quite humorous... if you like video games you'll love this film...

Half human and half machine, Henry wakes only to witness the kidnapping of his wife Estelle, by a group of mercenaries. From this moment onward Henry searches and fights for Estelle with every ounce of energy he possesses. He kills and risks being killed himself, by every weapon imaginable. The viewer, through the use of a special camera attached to someone's head, is about as face to face with the violence as anyone can get. Each move that is made by Henry is followed by the viewer. Every throat that is cut seems as if it is done by our own hands. We figure out what is happening only in so much as Henry does, for both viewer and character are in the same shoes. The film is kinetic, bloody and non-stop action. While worn down by the shaky camera work and bad acting, I also appreciated all the zany twists, gore, rawness and laughs to the story. Ann of Green Gables and Little House on the Prairie the film is not, and this is usually a good thing. Seen at the Toronto International Film Festival 2015.

I was definitely already a fan of the Biting Elbows music video that gave rise, but was unprepared for the roller coaster of awesome that doesn't let up for 90 minutes. I don't know if it was the 98 foot Frank's FDX screen or just a more attached rig, but some of the action was shaky and a little hard to follow, especially when Henry would get moved or tossed around. Without a sense of motion, you can lose your bearings. Being an avid FPS gamer will really help here. I'd recommend not filling your vision to the periphery with the screen (like the front 1/3rd point, where I sat) and choose a middle screen height position, which will make it more like a computer monitor experience. That said, I still found it easier to follow then the hand to hand combat in the early Bourne films, and more enjoyable. The audio is a blast with a good system, so don't wait until it gets to the crappy 30 seat theaters with the turned down speakers the megaplexes seem to tuck away in unused corners.

Sharlto Copley is extremely fun to watch in this film and did a great job not being the same character in District 9, and Elysium, proving far far from it (not a fan of Chappie, but he did well in that too).

There are so many oo, ahh, wow, and shock moments in this film. I really want to see a sequel and would definitely be happy to help fund it if they go that route again.

I think I will be seeing this again.

tldr: if you grew up with or are a fan of FPS games, this movie is amazingly fun.

Wow, seeing some of these reviews really made me laugh. "Generic, it's the exact same thing as if you were playing a FPS game!" Maybe those who are saying those things saw a different trailer than me? This movie is exactly what it was promoted to be. An hour and thirty six minutes of a lot of violence, jokes, and well, shakiness. Within the first 30 minutes of the movie, many people walked out murmuring to themselves "this is stupid, my head hurts" and I really questioned why they even bought a ticket in the first place if watching a shaky camera hurts your head? Why did a group of middle aged women go see this, and leave shortly after? DID YOU STUMBLE UPON THE WRONG MOVIE?

Besides my little rant, I most definitely recommend this movie. I am not a major fan of FPS games, but having the entire movie filmed with Go Pro's, along with the great action made this a very fun and enjoyable movie. It doesn't take itself seriously, as it knows exactly what it is. As much as I hate when people say this, it is one of those movies where you really can turn your brain off and enjoy it.

I smiled throughout the entire movie, and though the trailers show some really cool shots from the movie, there is still plenty of fun in the movie to where you really do not get bored one bit. The park-our scenes are truly something else as well, with major respect to the stunt- men who did their job perfectly. The music choice was also something that I truly enjoyed, it fit the movie very well. The acting, while little of it, was passable and did not really strike me as "bad."

If you are a person who can't stand something like the Bourne movies for their shaky cam, do not see this. If you love action movies and really want to admire great fight scenes and plenty of mayhem, go see this.

And for those saying the idea is not original, yes, movies shot in first person are not original. But for an action movie of this caliber, I would say it is an experience that is definitely worth it.

This film tells the story of a man who is resurrected from the dead by technology. He is a hybrid of man and technology, and is trained to kill efficiently.

There is a lot of buzz around "Hardcore Henry" being the first film to be filmed in a first person perspective. To me, the film looks more like a video game, because Henry is moves so fast and is so good at killing. People around him just die so easily. Scenes move very quickly from one to another, and the location of the story moves very quickly as well. One second he is on the roof and then the next second he is in a car. I can hardly keep up with the pace and the story! Towards the end, I felt dizzy from all the constant motion, and I was lost by the plot. At least, it was cool to have watched Henry doing daredevil jumps from one floor to another as if he was walking on grass.