HARDCORE HENRY ■ Non-stop action
If you’re a gamer, you’ll likely have an inherent curiosity about HARDCORE HENRY, a movie that’s presented exclusively in the first-person perspective of protagonist Henry. If you’re not a gamer, the found-footage-like first-person perspective may feel gimmicky at best, or nauseating, at worst. That said, writer/director Ilya Naishuller deserves credit, though, for making the camera perspective part of the fiction, as bionic Henry fights to remember his past life, discover why he’s being hunted and, ultimately, stack up a body count along the way to saving his wife from the clutches of a telekinetic warlord.
Sure, the premise is bonkers, but it sets the stage for an action movie whose emphasis on near perpetual forward momentum is akin to the likes of SHOOT ’EM UP or the CRANK movies. The little dramatic beats where the audience can catch their breath aren’t particularly effective, except when Sharlto Copley is playing it up as supporting character Jimmy. When he’s having fun, the movie is fun. The action is quite inventive, particularly in the first half, but Naishuller seemingly runs out of clever ways to annihilate waves of enemies towards the end of the movie, which falls flat as a result. HARDCORE HENRY isn’t the kind of movie you need to see more than once, but if you like fast-paced occasionally funny action movies, it’s well worth checking out.
Unfortunately, outside of the movie, there’s not a whole lot of reasons to buy it on DVD or Blu-ray. The DVD offers commentary from Naishuller and Copley. And that’s it. The Blu-ray fares a bit better with the commentary as well as the inclusion of deleted scenes and a Q&A, again with Naishuller and Copley, where they respond to fan questions. Given the uniqueness of the movie, it would have been great to see a whole lot more behind-the-scenes footage. Still, as far as high-adrenaline action movies go, HARDCORE HENRY is worth renting or buying a digital copy.
★★★ STARS ■ R18+ ■ 96mins
