Hardcore Henry is a bad movie.
Now hold on, don’t click away yet. Yes, Hardcore Henry can be hyper violent, mean-spirited and literally nauseating. There are plot holes you could drive tanks through. The plot goess to ridiculous and increasing unbelievable places.
But something happened around the second act…it started to grow on me. I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. Despite the very obvious flaws, Hardcore Henry succeeds because it never forgets what it is: A big B-Movie.
We see the whole film through the eyes of Henry, a man who is given cybernetic implants and limbs at a mysterious lab. He can’t speak or remember what happened to him…he just knows he has a beautiful wife Estelle (Haley Bennett). When his wife is kidnapped by the psychic powered (Yes, you read that right) Akan, Henry goes on a rampage to get her back.
In general, the choice to have a first person view is simply a gimmick. There’s no story reason for it other than giving the audience a different view. This perspective causes many of the action sequences will make you more nauseating than anything you’ll see in a Jason Bourne movie. It also gives you an up close and personal view of its often gruesome violence, so it’s not for the squeamish.
All of the action set pieces play like video game levels, not surprising given the first person view. Some of them are really fun, specifically a motorcycle chase and a shoot out in an abandoned building. But to be honest, some of the action sequences would work better if shot traditionally. Around the second act, the shaky cam becomes more steady, possibly to accommodate the special effects needed for the more elaborate set pieces. Or the editor kept throwing up.
Hardcore Henry’s plot starts off simply enough, but quickly ramps up to crazy levels: Psychic powers, armies of super soldiers, airborne science labs…TANKS!!! Well…just one tank, but you get the idea. A different movie might have taken a more serious turn when the bizarre stakes are raised. But Hardcore Henry realizes how silly it is, and never lets the audience forget. This isn’t a plot driven movie…it’s a B-Movie.
Acting is never really a huge factor in movies like this. Henry is never really seen or heard, so it’s hard for the audience to sympathize with him. Other than being a damsel in distress, Haley Bennett doesn’t really do anything. Tim Roth has a very odd cameo…it’s like he just wanders onto the movie.
Akan the villain, played by Danila Kozlovsky is a strange character who nearly ruins the film. Nothing about him makes sense. Why does he have telekinetic powers? What is his plan? And he’s incredibly annoying. Not in “What a dastardly villain!” kind of way, more of “This guy is annoying, why does he have to be in this movie?” way.
Hardcore Henry’s saving grace is Sharlto Copley’s Jimmy. The character shows up to help Henry, but then dies every time. But he keeps coming back, each time as different version of Jimmy. Unlike Akan, Copley knows how to balance an over the top performance. Maybe it’s because Jimmy is more developed, but he feels like more of a protagonist than Henry.
Hardcore Henry is a fun watch that knows what it is. If the movie had a director like Ridley Scott or some other science fiction master, the first person perspective might have been used to explore identity and how we see the world. In Hardcore Henry, it’s simply a cool new way to see s*** blow up.
And damn me for saying it…it works.
SCORE: 6 out of 10