"Hardcore Henry" Review

Does anyone remember the 2005 film adaption of “Doom?”

 It featured Karl Urban and Rosamund Pike before either knew how to act, and was meant to be a star vehicle for Dwayne Johnson, back when his middle name might as well have been ‘The -Rock.’

 It’s no surprise if you can’t; essentially everything about that movie was forgettable.

Everything except for an action sequence toward the end, shot entirely in first person as a way to imitate the film's video game roots. Unfortunately, by this point the movie had already planted its feet firmly in artistic bankruptcy, and no amount of fan service could save it.

 But that didn’t stop one unified thought from passing through the mind of every audience member, or at least the ones who hadn’t yet fled the theatre.

 “What mistakes led me to watch this?”

 And after that.

 “Hey, this is almost cool. What if they shot the whole thing like this?”

 Low and behold, a mere 11 years later and that collective curiosity has come to fruition with Ilya Naishuller’s “Hardcore Henry,” an action film shot entirely in first-person via a head-mounted GoPro Hero 3.

 The POV (point-of-view) gimmick may predictably wear thin, but “Hardcore Henry” has at the very least enough trashy low-brow delights to fill its short runtime.

 There isn’t much of a plot to talk about here, which is to be expected from a movie titled “Hardcore Henry.” Henry, our silent protagonist, awakes on an operating table with a bad case of narrative induced amnesia. He’s greeted by his fiancé Estelle (Haley Bennett), who informs him that much of his fragile human fleshy-bits have been replaced by cybernetic enhancements, effectively turning him into a one-man-killing-machine. Their reunion is cut short however, when the lab is destroyed and Estelle is kidnapped by the film’s main antagonist Akan (Danila Kozlovsky), a telekinetic with a thick Russian accent and impeccably groomed snow-white hair. Henry must now save his fiancé, and stop Akan from creating an army of mindless super soldiers to take over the world.

 Because that’s what supervillains do when they’re not busy building giant moon lasers.

 From the very first action scene, the limitations of the POV technique become apparent. Without the agency that comes with video game control, a first-person chase scene and gunfight becomes jarring. At best the action sequences are only mildly confusing, at worst the shaky cam can cause sensory overload and nausea.

 This issue does lessen as the film progresses and your brain adapts to “Henry’s” special brand of chaos, but it still doesn’t change the fact that first-person is not an effective way to film action. It lacks the momentum and grace that can be achieved with traditional cinematography, never giving the audience clear perspective by isolating them to a single viewpoint. The attempt at absolute escapism is admirable, but in practice it fails spectacularly.

 The novelty is a dud.

 However, the first person perspective does excel at showing close-up brutal violence, and in “Hardcore Henry” that is frequent.

 This is definitely not a film for the squeamish, and some of its more gratuitous moments managed to provoke the kind of wincing not heard outside the “Paper-Cuts” stunt from “Jack-Ass.”

 Though not based on any existing video game IP, “Hardcore Henry” shows clear affection for the dumbest and most testosterone fueled aspects of the medium, rushing through common first-person shooter clichés at breakneck speed. There’s a “Robocop”/”Halo: Combat Evolved”-esque opening tutorial sequence, boss battles, escort missions, and literal waypoints given to Henry by the NPC (non-player-character) Jimmy (Sharlto Copley), a didactic guide that repeatedly dies only to be brought back like he has a healthy supply of quarters.

 The film shows a surprising degree of precision at imitating the experience of a tasteless first person shooter, giving it an aesthetic that should be recognizable to anyone who’s ever played games like “Far Cry,” or “Call of Duty.” It’s enamored with brainless 80’s action, its attempts at jokes are crudely constructed yet well-timed, and the cartoony near-future-Russia setting is an open world sandbox in waiting, shallow but intriguing. Alone, these aspects seem detrimental to the enjoyment, but mixed together they create a cocktail of nostalgia that’s intoxicating.

 “Bad but fun” can’t help but feel like a lazy justification. And though Hardcore Henry never reaches the irreverent heights of something like “Crank” (Jason Stathom’s badassery trumps a blank slate main character any day), it’s escapist entertainment of the purest form. I walked out of the theatre with what I can only describe as a uniquely pleasant migraine, and I suppose the smile on my face must be worth something.

 3.5/5

At a glance:

Hardcore Henry succeeds in everything it attempts, it just doesn't attempt a lot.