Hardcore Henry – a review

Boys are always a bit violent! And men will always remain boys deep down inside. When I was young I used to play with Playmobil. I had a castle and two pirate ships. But as I grew up I noticed about myself that my playtime got a bit more violent. I –for instance- decapitated several spare puppets (and used a red marker to paint the blood) because my story needed heads on spikes.

Action movies at that time got my fancy and I often created my own action sequences. A Playmobil cannonball with a small screw inserted became a hand grenade. This I would then use to blow out part of the castle while the hero jumped into the open air only to be rescued by the rope (a bath drain chain) he tied earlier. Using the force of the explosion the hero would then slingshot himself around the castle into another room where he would crash through the window and then kick the villain through a window to his death several floors below. While the hero threw a knife into the henchman’s gut (if you bend a Playmobil puppet slightly you can lock one of the knifes in the cavity).

Just one of the many, many hero-saves-the-day-in-die-hard-fashion I created in my preteen playtime.

Now why this elaborate insight in my slightly disturbing childhood fantasies? Because, that is what Hardcore Henry is to me: A young boy's fantasy. And, knowing full well that it’s not next year’s winner of best picture, I do actually consider that a good thing. Hardcore Henry is just such a testosterone laden blood fest of a film you simply cannot deny yourself having fun (that is, if you enjoy this sort of thing – I don’t think my dear mother would like this film).

The moviemakers have thrown everything into this movie including the kitchen sink and granny. Tanks, motorcycles, naked women everything a young boy fancies is available. Unfortunately, young boys will never be allowed to watch this movie because the violence and action are of an insane level. Hardcore Henry is truly hardcore!

I mean, I played my share of first-person shooter videogames.

Due to the first person nature of this movie the closest reference this movie has is either a videogame or that old experimental film Lady in the lake.

And yes there were times that I started to count the amount of causalities my character caused (mass-murder would be a more appropriate term). But Hardcore Henry tops that and then some. Stabbing, shooting, strangling, multiple decapitations, incineration, I mean –it’s quite a creative list of killing people in varied ways (I think only drowning is missing).

But, to quote Arnold Schwarzenegger in True Lies: ‘they were all bad’. At least the most of them.

No, Hardcore Henry is such an orgy of violence I think Caligula should be taking notes. But then, that’s what the movie sells on the tin. A violent first-person (view) action movie. So you’ll either love it or you’ll hate it. I liked it (And yes I also enjoy Winnie the Pooh).

Keeping the pacing and story just right.

Thankfully the movie doesn’t overstay its welcome. Clocking at around ninety minutes that’s more than enough time to deliver a simple story and set piece after set piece of fascinating action sequences - I’m still baffled about how this movie pulled off several shots.

Hardcore Henry is a very fast-moving (very reminiscent of Crank at times) film that doesn’t take all too much time with plot explanation. And that’s fine, it has action to show.

Actually the small story strands that are interwoven in the film already make the film feel a bit bloated after an hour. But, thankfully, this is kept at its minimum as the movie works its way up to a great ‘all out’ finale. You don’t have to be a college degree to get it. And that is good because additional story strands or characters would only overcomplicate matters.

But I shouldn’t mock the simplicity of the story too much because, in fact, all the little questions that do happen throughout the movie (like one character dying all the time) are not only explained in the context of the movie but also in a bit more ‘meta-sense’ of ‘how else are you going to shoot that sequence?’ (one actor cannot be in two places at the same time, for instance, and the movie has a wonderful simple solution for it). In a time where movies usually leave several question remaining, Hardcore Henry pretty much ties it all up in a neat little bow.

Less story means less chance of plot holes and remaining questions.

For a big dramatic movie a small story would ‘simply not be done' but for an action movie like this, that’s perfectly okay.

Several stunt people played Henry.

So I’m already proclaiming this film as a simple storied violence fest that has been fascinatingly filmed. True, the movie does cheat every once in a while with sudden jumps to new locations – but that’s very forgivable.

The acting then? That’s fine. Sharlto Copley is definitely having a ball. Tim Roth earned one of his easiest paychecks in his life. And Haley Bennett and Danila Kozlovsky (talk about a videogame reference – hello Psycho Mantis) are perfect as good girl, bad guy respectively.

I think the only critique I have about certain characters is the vileness. Using a baseball bat as a makeshift phallus and spitting on it for lubrication is not really my kind of thing. But then again, setting this movie in Russia and –with that- creating an atmosphere of tough-as-nails-two-vodka-bottels-for-lunch-alpha-male-probably-part-of-the-mafia-Russians it does fit. Hardcore Henry’s world is a hard world wherein nobody is friendly or subtle –and those who are die. 

First person found footage film (I’m calling it now)

Which brings me to the many (many) tricks they pulled with the camera. It’s amazing to look at and very difficult to describe. One shot, for instance, involved Henry chasing a villain over the top of a bridge. I can’t see a way how to create a safety harness there. So, did they really run there without safety or did I miss something? 

It goes without saying that the movie-making-troupe made excellent usage of the headgear camera. And –to me- it is very hard to describe which scene was made by a (slightly suicidal) stunt person or by movie trickery.

According to the imdb trivia section the stunt people were so good at their job that the only painful episodes on the set were a few scrapes and a chipped tooth.

And that is somewhat the point. In the back of your mind you can believe they were very prepared. But still this movie throws scenes at you that I find rather death defying. Amazing visuals all ‘round.

Next movie: Henry on the moon?

So to summarize: Hardcore Henry is a tremendously violent action film proudly wearing the 'leave your brain at the door'-badge. It has been very well shot using the gimmick of a first-person movie to the max. The simple story, in this sense, serves as a way to get Henry from one insane action sequence into the next.

Will this movie be remembered in fifty years time? Who knows? I still remember my violent stories playing with my Playmobil. But I can vouch for the fact that Hardcore Henry has created a new kind of film. A true first person action film. Fascinating (but violent)!