Hardcore Henry 2015

So, I saw Hardcore at Toronto Film Fest and it was pretty fucking hardcore! Now, there's a pretty good way to describe this movie that I think you'll all agree with when you see it, and it's that this movie is Crank meets Mirror's Edge. This film is very much inspired by video games and it's very much inspired by Neveldine & Taylor. It lives on the principles of sex, drugs and rock and roll, and it's filled with great excuses for the film to be the way that it is. However, its benefits don't stop there. For one, the character's ability to speak is damaged from the beginning of the film. So, seeing the entire film from the eyes of a silent protagonist not only adds to the humor, but it's one more layer to add to the homage of video games that this film is going for. There are plenty of films shot in first person that have cuts that might bother me, but this film often disguises those cuts as glitches in the main character's vision, and when cuts are made in the film, I never really feel cheated by their existence. The cuts were often used to help keep the pace of the film going. So, when the character's chasing someone over a long distance, there's no real point in showing the entirety of the chase anyway. This film is filled with incredibly impressive parkour and stunt choreography, with many of the stunts putting the actors in very real danger. Now, much like a Neveldine & Taylor film, this movie does not really take itself too seriously. The film has a constant sense of goofiness and humor, so that combined with the ridiculous and well choreographed action, made for a film that I had an absolute blast watching. This film and Mad Max are probably tied for the most fun I've had in a film all year. This is a great example of a "fun" out of 10 movie. Is it as good of a film overall as Mad Max? Ah, no. I mean, for one this film is a lot more stupid, but on the plus side this film knows that it's stupid and is proud of it. Like any Neveldine & Taylor film, it's not trying to be an Oscar winner, it's just trying to be entertaining. So when the plot gets so stupid that it's a little difficult to understand exactly why any of this is happening, at least it's a movie that doesn't really beg for you to care.This movie doesn't pretend it's anything other than what it is, and that makes it all the more enjoyable.

I just saw this in theaters on a XD screen (basically IMAX) and this was one intense and wild f'n movie. Heavy emphasis on intense. I'm actually someone who loves 3D movies, rollercoasters, VR, etc. but even I was starting to feel a little queasy during some of the hectic parts of Hardcore Henry (albeit I just ate a ton of Chipotle right before watching it...). While the plot is nonexistent and the characters are just sometimes (batshit) crazy, the action is what sets this apart from any other movie that I've seen and is basically all the movie is. If you thought Mad Max: Fury Road was all action, you haven't seen nothing yet. And once the (dope) action starts, it literally does not stop for the entire 90 mins that the movie is running. You will not get any sort of break whatsoever. So be prepared. I actually wished there were a few more periods of non-action just so I could rest myself (aka not feel sick).

This is a unique viewing experience to say the least and takes the "shaky cam" style to a whole new level. The first person view was even "shakier" than I expected going in but it helps to emphasize and capture the frenetic action/destruction that occurs to all in Henry's path. HH will probably be the closest mainstream "VR-esque" experience that most people will have until later this year with the PSVR or they're lucky enough to have experienced the Occulus Rift or Vive, so it is definitely worth checking out if you are interested in that tech at all. Now if you are a person that gets sick by anything with too much movement, DO NOT WATCH this movie. You will get sick. I can guarantee that.

For those who love action movies and want to see one of the most unique cinematic presentations in a while, you're going to be in for a treat. Just don't eat any Chipotle right before seeing this :P

What this boils down to is pretty easy: a ruthlessly simple plot that merely exists to feed cool fight scenes. Of course, the main gimmick is the shooting style: we spend the duration in the first-person, experiencing the gunfights and tumult of a mute protagonist from a perspective just above the bridge of his nose. To my great surprise, the filmmakers are actually inventive and unorthodox enough to keep this from feeling stale. In fact, apart from the constant threat of motion sickness, it works marvelously. They're even able to play it for some great laughs, often conveying the action hero's frustrations and feelings in pantomime like a classic silent film.

Its dramatic chops are not a strength - in fact it seems to be a film entirely staffed by stuntmen, students and models - and it gravely struggles when the fireworks halt (albeit briefly) to further the story. The main foil is a particularly egregious example, akin to Tommy Wiseau playing Julian Assange with telekinetic powers. Theater really isn't what this is about, though, and if you were expecting Shakespeare you may want to undergo a thorough cranial exam. As a playground for pyrotechnics, special effects, parkour and crazily original fight scenes, it delivers in spades. You may feel guilty for enjoying this, but enjoy it you shall.

The trailer for this film doesn't spoil anything: it tells almost everything about this film, which (surprise) doesn't pass the Bechdel test. In fact, women aren't merely used as objects in this film, but as pins designed to strike down. When you see women who stand up for themselves, they're denigrated into stereotypes, e.g. whiny, hen-like smithereens of the True Heroes, which, of course, are The Men. The Strong Men with Big Muscles and Bits Of Robot Inside, but with Some Kind Of...Pathos?

There's no pathos. There's nothing veiling the fact that this is a film which seeks to emulate Neill Blomkamp's films, going as far as casting the very limited actor Sharlto Copley in a slew of rôles designed to be funny and show his breadth, which is wide enough to require a microscopic lens that only scientists at CERN have access to.

I can't stop coming back to how this film views women. How the director and writer, and, indeed, every single being who has been involved with this muck, must see women. Sexy things, or disparaging must-haves? Both? When two women actually speak at the same time in this film, the man who is speaking with them just says something to sedate them and then, to another man, says "Sometimes it's just easier to say yes".

Please.

There's one attempt at psychology in the film, apart from one scene where, naturally, a woman is displayed as highly deceptive and deserves to die. Some kind of recurring psychological theme in this film, is invoked as the lead character remembers being bullied in his childhood. A slow-motion shot of his robot being thrown into a brick wall. Actually, that scene is kind of the leitmotif for this film: something shiny being destroyed.

Oh! There's even time for a homophobic two-line rant in this film! As one of Copley's charades is vented towards the viewer, he says something akin to "There's a certain stigma attached to blokes who like musicals. I just wanna get it out there that I'm as straight as an arrow, get it?" and then he kills people. Thanks for letting us know.

Then some scenes of women being prostitutes. These women are in the middle of a group sex scene with another of Copley's characters, but the lead character's entrance doesn't disturb them in the least. Neither does his apparent dying, which only entices them to feeling him up and suggesting sex. Naturally, as they're women, the plaything for Man. The Man. The Big, Strong Man.

The first-person-shooter point of view in this film was quite enthralling at times, but that's about it that made me like the film. I'd rather spend time hanging out between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump and watch fireworks go off in the sky, than see this film again; it'd be quite the same experience, I'm sure.

The violence is another thing. I have nothing against the showing of violence, if it serves a purpose. This is merely here to look cool, and give people kicks. Well, if watching people dying to bad music - apart from Devendra Banhart's music, which somehow has crept into the soundtrack in the form of two very good songs - is your thing, good luck with staying human. That's it. Oh, and if you think I'm spoiling this film through this review, don't play "Max Payne", as that will basically have ruined this entire film for you (apart from the fact that the game is far better than this film).

The people who have made this film - yes, including your one-minute join, Tim Roth - should have seen "Mad Max: Fury Road". By all accounts, they probably have, but deflected everything beauteous and fair about it.

I'll let the very last line spoken in the film ring out as a kind of air around this sycophantic, anti-feministic clownboat of a film: "Listen to your heart."

Do not see this film.

Hardcore Henry is incredibly underrated and the weird thing is both times I have seen it I had two completely different experiences, the first time I saw it was in the Cinema and it was one of the best cinema experiences ever because it was just such a fun film and myself and the crowd just couldn't help to react to certain moments, also the ending of this film honestly caused the cinema to give it a standing ovation as I don't think any of us was thinking it was gonna be that fun. The next experience was watching it on Blu Ray and honestly watching it on a good-sized TV (not a laptop or phone) was just so great as well, as I found myself noticing lots more little details and though this film isn't super complicated it is just so fun and you can see that passion of all the people working on it.

Also, I need to talk about how great Sharlto Copley is in this film as he is so perfect playing different versions of himself and there is one scene, in particular, involving a musical and he is just phenomenal in it. Now the story isn't the most complicated or even the most creative, but for the main character who doesn't talk and we don't know what he looks like, as a viewer you will find you get behind him immediately and the performance of Andrei Dementiev / Ilya Naishuller (Henry) is fantastic for a purely physical performance is fantastic.

I'm so happy Ilya Naishuller is getting to work with David Leitch on Nobody because honestly is a very talented director who deserves to work with the action greats, I can't recommend this film enough if you are a gamer but also if you are an action lover who wants to be put in the driver seat. The one warning I give you is you might get a bit of motion sickness while watching but just take a break and then get back to the rollercoaster.

Note: People moaning about the shaking cam......I don't think you understand that the film is trying to make you feel like this confused person at the moment, just because we love steady-cam action it doesn't mean shaky-cam doesn't have its place. Also, this film was made for 2 million USD, literally, that is such a difficult thing to do and having worked in the film I can tell you working with a small budget isn't easy but only truly creative directors/crews can pull that off.

This is one of those movies where I personally really, really did not enjoy it, but it had just enough (barely) good in it that I would feel bad to rate it so low when it's overall rated so highly, and then not attempt to explain.

The overall story idea and the first person aspect were unique and well done. But that's it.

This is pretty much loud, non-stop action that doesn't have a clear reason behind it happening; until the very end, and I do mean the very end.

The start and the finish were interesting. The rest of it was just gross, and then gross, and then more gross. There wasn't much of a story unfolding throughout the majority of the movie. It was just a long, gross wait to find out what it was all about. There was no actual substance during that wait. I'm betting less than halfway through I was just desperate for it to come to a close already. It was an exhausting, annoying film. I may have actually rolled my eyes through some of it.

If you're one of those in a large majority of men out there who rarely ever need anything more than excessive, brutal, bloody, gory violence, and cookie cutter nude women with no discernible personalities that seem to only exist to fawn over men, in order to be satisfied; this is for you. It's a big yawn for me; lazy, unoriginal, and did I mention that it's just a whole lot of gross? It was a lot to watch at that level for over 90 minutes, and the interesting start and finish did not make this worth my time to endure.

This maybe could have been cool to me had it been given more; more thought, more substance, more than mindless viewing. But, it was unfortunately just turned into a pile of boring shit. Okay, yeah. I really hated this. It was a steaming pile of stinky, smelly shit. There was only the need to bother watching the beginning and the ending in order to follow along. Boys who dig this; if you have a girl and you wanna share this with her, maybe make sure you know her well enough to know if she'd actually manage to enjoy it too. We don't have to enjoy all the same things and I imagine there have to be other women who understand where I'm coming from in how I came away from this movie feeling. And they used a Queen song in this shit! That was one of the most offensive parts!

Also! I often read both the higher and lower rated reviews for movies; especially for ones I dislike. The 1 star ratings on IMDb for this are gold. I've never given so many helpful review yesses. I want to give them all double high fives. One basically said that if non-stop ultra-violence constitutes a plot for you then you'll give it a 10. It's exactly that, with annoying tits thrown in. Another said they prefer a movie with a plot. Fucking YES. Also, also; I had forgotten that the bad blondie bloke had superpowers without any explanation.