Hardcore Henry

When is a movie not a movie? How do you rate a movie like this anyway?

Hardcore Henry completely reinvents cinematic language. It's closer to a videogame in streamlined story and brutal, flinch-inducing violence. The sometimes low-res, often choppy POV is ballsy and cleverly conceived, gags and smart editing is commendable, the director's well-honed eye providing a true cinematic breath of fresh air.

It has superbly apt, moody music and good directional sound, it's not nearly as cheap as the marketing led me to believe even though it's clearly on a shoestring, its inventiveness and good blend of stunt performers and FX create a non-nauseous, toe-curling adrenaline rush.

There's admiration to be found in the lack of exposition in the 8-bit paper-thin plot and the gaudy, gonzo characters of a suitable Sharlto Copley. If you're in to videogames or appreciate something different, then Hardcore Henry is a revelatory, avant-garde, art-house action flick with its tongue in its cheek and its balls to the wall. It's also a sadistic, nihilistic over the top collection of video game levels. Insanely creative and in incredibly bad taste. It's a gory riot, blackly comic and tells you exactly what it is upfront and never lets up. Many parts of this film are stupid, ugly, dragging and plain insufferable and then there's equal parts hilarity and visual wit, true kineticism and sheer stuntman balls.

Very Russian. Not for everyone. And wears thin by the end, but very much a one of a kind and relentlessly intent on being it's own beast. And it helps that the ending is so absurdly laugh-out-loud OTT that it puts Crank to shame.

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.

Within a couple of minutes of the opening credits, "Hardcore Henry" takes off on its wild ride, and doesn't stop until the ending credits. It is just a good old fashion action film, with gunfights, explosions, crazy stunts, good guys, bad guys, weird people, twists, turns, and most of all, non-stop action.

The film has no message. There is no propaganda that it tries to push. The films entire purpose is to make its audience forget their problems and just enjoy themselves for a couple of hours (and the filmmakers succeed in that goal).

"Hardcore Henry" is a film to watch.

Awesome innovative movie jam-packed with creative, intense and bad-ass action. a purely-fun action movie. lots of great scenes. for the most part this experiment was very successful to me. the villain was pretty goofy but for this type of movie that you can't take too seriously, it kind of makes sense (3 viewings)

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.