Review – Hardcore Henry

Hardcore Henry follows Henry, a man who was in some horrific accident and put back together using robotics and turned into a killing machine.  He sets out to get his wife (Haley Bennett) back from a Magneto-like villain Akan (Danila Kozlovsky) before he creates super solders similar to Henry to take over the world.

The entire movie is shot in the first person from the perspective of Henry, something that has never been done in the action genre before.  This throws us right into the action for a very unique filmgoing experience.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t work all the way.

When the movie first starts, it’s kind of insane to see what is happening on screen.  I’ve seen first person films before, but Hardcore Henry takes it to a whole new level.  I originally thought this movie would have been even cooler in 3-D and if it was, I probably would have thrown up.  If you get any sort of motion sickness, you should probably avoid this movie because your head will explode.  However, for a movie only being an hour and a half, it runs too long and the first person gimmick runs really thin.  And without out the cool effect the first person perspective, the movie doesn’t have a lot to offer besides insane violence and a weak story.

I will say that some of the action scenes and chases were pretty cool.  This movie is incredibly violent and gory, with a climactic fight scene that pits Henry up against 30+ super solders that turns into a bloody mess.  It really does feel like a video game.  There are a bunch of “missions” throughout the film where Henry must shoot his way through dozens of nameless bad guys in order to get to the next spot.  Also, for a movie focused on the first person, we get a great performance from Sharlto Copley as a scientist and friend of Henry’s who has some secrets that aren’t revealed until the end.  I can’t get into detail about his performance because it will ruin a pretty cool twist, but Copley shows insane range and is far and away the best part of the movie.

Hardcore Henry is a cool idea that just doesn’t work entirely.  The first person perspective is cool for a little while, but doesn’t succeed to it’s fullest potential.  But, I enjoyed some of the action and the insane performance by Sharlto Copley.  And, more importantly, the filmmakers pushed the medium to something completely new for the genre, and that is something I will always respect in a film.

MY RATING – 2.5/4

Did you see Hardcore Henry?  What did you think?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter @kevflix or on Facebook at Kevflix.