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Hardcore Henry is a “first-person movie,” as in, “Let me be the first person to tell you how bad this movie is.” Written and directed by Ilya Naishuller (a protege of Russian genre-man Timur Bekmambetov), this barely coherent fantasy shoot-’em-up is seen entirely through the eyes of its title character, a voiceless, bionic amnesiac who must stop a villain from creating an army of super-soldiers. The ever-hammy Sharlto Copley (District 9) keeps popping up in different disguises as Henry’s guide, but neither he nor the movie ever really explains what, exactly, the hell is going on. As a gimmick, the first-person point-of-view doesn't get in the way (much), but it doesn’t succeed at making us feel like we’re part of the action, either, because there are no characters or emotions for us to latch onto. What little humor is present is sophomoric; the violence, predictably, is graphic and plentiful. It’s not even like watching someone play a video game. It’s like watching a video of someone watching someone play a video game.
Official Site: www.stxmovies.com/hardcorehenry
Director: Ilya Naishuller
Producer: Timur Bekmambetov, Ilya Naishuller, Inga Smith and Ekaterina Kononenko
Cast: Sharlto Copley, Danila Kozlovsky, Haley Bennett, Dasha Charusha, Sveta Ustinova, Tim Roth, Cyrus Arnold, Ilya Naishuller, Will Stewart and Jake Karlen
Director: Ilya Naishuller
Producer: Timur Bekmambetov, Ilya Naishuller, Inga Smith and Ekaterina Kononenko
Cast: Sharlto Copley, Danila Kozlovsky, Haley Bennett, Dasha Charusha, Sveta Ustinova, Tim Roth, Cyrus Arnold, Ilya Naishuller, Will Stewart and Jake Karlen
