Synopsis – Henry is resurrected from death with no memory, and he must save his wife from a telekinetic warlord with a plan to bio-engineer soldiers.

My Take – This one thing I have always liked about Hollywood, even with all the inadequate films it continues to produce, there is always a good chance for innovation. With the help of new technology, simply a very original idea or some influence from established filmmakers, the industry keeps growing with the help of its upcoming talent. Here, Ilya Naishuller, a young Russian director who had a very cool idea to shoot an action film from a first-person perspective using a GoPro Hero3 Black Edition camera. The proof of concept was released online as a short film “Biting Elbows: Bad Motherf***er“. It was pitched publicly and helped to successfully crowd-fund this feature. Now I know this concept isn’t that new to gamers who play FPS titles (Halo, Doom, Call of Duty), but for those who don’t visit that land this movie is indeed a new experience. First person perspective has been used multiple times in cinema, mainly to conjure a sense of involvement, but not as ambitiously as done here. This is a full blown mayhem and fans of fast pace action would certainly love it! The story follows Henry (played by many different cameramen, stuntmen, and the director himself) wakes up in a laboratory, on an airship, missing his left leg and left arm. His limbs are immediately replaced, with cybernetic ones, by the woman who brought him back from the dead; his wife Estelle (Haley Bennett). Estelle quickly tries to bring Henry up to speed, on what’s going on, but before he has any idea who he is, they’re both attacked by a powerful warlord, named Akan (Danila Kozlovsky), and his mercenaries. Henry manages to escape, but Estelle is kidnapped.

He spends the rest of the film trying to survive many attackers, at every turn, regain his memory, and rescue Estelle. Henry finds aid, from a mysterious stranger named Jimmy (Sharlto Copley); and others, who look just like him but with different accents and style. The whole time, we see exactly what Henry sees, in all its action-packed, over-the-top glory. Honestly, I had my doubts at first, I mean the trailer looked awesome, an entire movie done POV-stye, who wouldn’t want to watch that out of plain curiosity! But my concern was that the film would feel like you’re just watching a GoPro video instead of something that’s cinematic, an equation which has generally failed due to some terrible found footage films. But turns out, I had a blast. Also with action there often comes violence and the film does not shy away from that aspect one bit. This movie is certainly deserving of the R rating, the opening credits along paying homage to graphic kills and torture you are about to see. You should expect lots of artificial blood to paint the screen as heads explode, knives penetrate, and characters erupt in geysers of red. I think it’s among the most violent movies I’ve ever seen (probably).  I can’t give you too many details without providing spoilers, but those who can’t stand dismemberment need to think this one through before watching it. Outside of gore and violence, Henry’s adventure also has strong language, a sea of female genitalia references, and plenty of nudity to go around. Action aside, the movie has an unexpected sense of humor. Some driven by situations, some driven by characters, some thanks to the POV. There’s not a lot, but what is there is gold – and a relief during all that action. The campy sequence with a group of Jimmy’s clones singing Cole Porter‘s I’ve Got You Under My Skin is probably my favorite of the lot. Fortunately, the ridiculousness was a delight to watch, having me laughing or chuckling at times with some of the crazy stuff Jimmy did. In addition they added some clever moments to the film that poked fun at Hollywood that brought extra laughs and relieved the intensity.

Henry’s own ridiculous moves earned a chuckle or too from me, especially when they jabbed at how ridiculous games can be sometimes. This is indeed a ridiculous movie (which you hopefully picked up from the trailer). So I can’t necessarily dock points off its score for that. However, I can still pick at some things of that ridiculousness that I didn’t enjoy. For one thing the story was very simple and quite stupid at times. It took me a while to understand what the whole purpose of the fighting was and just what Henry’s role in all of this was. In addition to that the main bad guy Akan and his powers were left unexplained and he was more annoying than respectful. Some parts of Henry’s quest were from left field, with only a small, small line of relevance to tether it to the story. Some of these parts, while certainly thrilling, could have been edited out. Obviously the true stars of this film are the camera work and VFX, it gets you badly wanting to purchase the Blu-Ray whenever it comes out just so you can see the featurette on how the production was done. I think whether or not this method is as immersive as a 3D or a IMAX experience, can always be argued, but you can definitely file this under the category unique. The cinematography is impressive and the set pieces are original and fun, but it’s the actors who sell it. Sharlto Copley in this movie plays the funniest, most entertaining, and also the most weird & unique character I’ve seen in any movie in quite some time. I was honestly laughing every time he showed up. Without explaining why, he’s essentially playing a different person, complete with a different personality, accent, and ridiculous new costume every subsequent time he appears, thus giving Sharlto a chance to show off his acting skills like no other role ever could. The guy’s doing action, making us laugh, and playing multiple roles all at the same time. Danila Kozlovsky is underused, but pitch-perfect in all his creepy mania, while Bennett‘s performance is likable. Does anyone else notice her striking resemblance to Jennifer Lawrence? Tim Roth is good in a cameo. On the whole, ‘Hardcore Henry’ is the most insane, over the top, fun and hilarious action movie ever made. The film lives up to its title of being hardcore. Action junkies will love this!