Review of Hardcore Henry (2015) by Maksim B — 10 Jun 2016

Hardcore Henry is a high-concept, first-person-shooter-turned-movie that will blow your mind up with its endless action, brutal violence and hectic pacing. A ride so wild that it is hard to follow, this is a so-so attempt to establish a new genre inspired from the first-person action computer games. Without much of a story and enough confusing moments, Hardcore Henry offers a mindless action that fails to impress for longer than 30 minutes.

Henry wakes up in a laboratory where he is being "re-assembled" by his scientist wife Estelle (Haley Bennet ) after losing his left leg and arm. When the Russian villain Akan (Danila Kozlovsky) attacks the lab, Henry manages to escape, but his wife is captured. Unable to speak or to remember anything before waking up, he is constantly chased by Akan's mercenaries. While trying to survive and to find his wife Henry receives help from the mysterious Jimmy (Sharlto Copley).

For about 80 minutes, Ilya Naishuller's movie is an endless ride through the streets of Moscow, the surrounding areas and buildings, combined with countless killings and action sequences. The pacing is so intense and overwhelming that following the plot (or the "thing" that is meant to be called "plot") is almost impossible. Even a hard-core action junkie will have difficulties with the story, patchy editing and gaming-style camera work. Hardcore Henry resembles much more a game (or an overlong trailer of game) than a movie and that is why after some time you will just get bored and tired of the endless walking, jumping and killing of enemies.

In conclusion, Hardcore Henry was meant to be a high-concept start of a potential new action sub-genre, but unfortunately the style-over-content approach has gone way too far resulting in a poorly executed action extravaganza.