HARDCORE HENRY (2016)

When you think of first person shooters you think of video games like Doom, Wolfenstein, Duke Nukem or more recently with today's generation Call of Duty. You can't sit there and really think a movie can be made in this style of game play but it has crossed everyone's mind as to what it would look like if a movie was made like that. Well Hardcore Henry is that movie and its exactly how everyone would've or could've imagined it being made for the big screen. That first person point of view with all that flash and flair of shooting at people.

The film follows our main character Henry from the beginning on the operating table after being placed there for unknown reasons which would be filled in ten minutes later by the group of doctors and scientists around him. But that is short lived when we are introduced to the main villain in the movie Akan, a character with meta-human powers (ability to use force to his advantage). He crashes the reunion between Henry and his wife but our main character's story really begins here as he escapes the clutches of Akan and his militant group but only to have his wife captured on the ground after escaping via an escape pod from what was a floating base in the sky. After his first encounter with Akan's men he is rescued by Jimmy (Sharlto Copley) who through out the movie pops up as various different versions of the same person. It is after that he is thrown from one fight to another and then ending in a climatic battle that is by all means a one against ALL brawl to the end.

 

Hardcore Henry is what many video gaming fans would say is the answer to their sole desire to see their favorite first person shooters made into movie form. But the movie does have its moments of being under-whelming and at times over hyped. Despite being mostly filmed with a GoPro camera attached to the actors head and it does catch moments and scenes that would have been completely hard to catch had it not been shot using this camera. One scene in particular caught me was the escalator scene as the actor is sliding down it he crashes into a female extra and though it seems like she smashes her face into the metal steps it shown that the actor had actually caught her face with his hand before it had happened. This in fact was not meant to happen but it showed that without that camera in place the scene would've been crap.

Despite like I said moments being a little under whelming or uncaffeinated for us adrenaline junkies this movie is a non-stop action movie with moments of humor and adult situations. I for one found myself cringing at some scenes that showed our main character having to resort to certain levels of violence to kill his enemies. I felt the movie was good, not great but it is indeed one of those movies you have to see. Also found it great that they used Tim Roth as Henry's father for flashback scenes to when he was a child and as a good method to get the hell back up and kick more ass. I understand that some people will say that the whole camera shaking problem will play with their motion sickness. I have to say that not entirely true, its not like they are taking the camera and tossing it over the side of a mountain, letting it roll and then watching it wash down stream. The camera does have its moments of being jarred but its far from being shaken around like its being tossed around. So if you have the time then go see this movie cause its not like you're going to waste your time because its an action flick that deserves its moment to shine especially since its up against a Melissa McCarthy all the same kind of crappy comedy movie she does. So go out and see Hardcore Henry before he leaves the theaters after a week because somebody with a weak mentality complained and caused the theater to drop it from its listings.
                             
                         
reviewed by Bucky