Movie of the Week: Hardcore Henry

Alexa: “Hardcore Henry” is an awesome concept that simultaneously works and doesn’t in its execution. The idea of a movie shot from a first-person perspective is really intriguing. I know it’s inspired by first-person shooter games, but I’m not a video game person at all, and I still appreciated what it was trying to do. Watching the events unfold entirely from Henry’s perspective is truly unlike any other movie-watching experience I’ve had, and as a result it held my attention from beginning to end. It’s such a different way to take in a film. I watched it on a projector, and I’d recommend doing the same if you’re able, because the larger scale makes the experience all the more immersive. And I actually loved the fast-paced, visceral action sequences, even if the first-person POV was disruptive at times. To me, the first-person POV took more of a toll on the story than the action. It unfolded at rapid speed in bits and pieces, which I understand is how Henry would absorb it all, but as a viewer, it was cumbersome and difficult to follow. And the acting is as wooden as the stunt work is exceptional - with the exception of Sharlto Copley, who is amazing in everything and clearly had a blast.

Joel: This is a movie that is obviously inspired by video games. When I say inspired, I mean heavily, heavily inspired by video games, particularly first person shooter video games. Hardcore Henry goes out of its way to emulate the look and feel of a shooter video game whenever possible. Not only does it keep the perspective of first person the entire time, it chops it’s plot up into a series of tasks or levels, that each include a task or a goal to complete, from retrieve this thing from that guy, to get to this specific point on the map, to clear out this building of all enemy hostiles. The movie even  goes out of its way to remove the voice of the main character so that it will feel more like the silent protagonist that is popular in video games.

It’s a fun idea for a gimmick to try, and it really nails down the “video game” aesthetic that it’s going for. Pretty much every moment of dialogue in the movie feels like a genuine cutscene out of some violent video game. It honestly feels like the movie could, at any moment be getting ready to let you take over and control Henry trying to complete whatever task the person on the screen just gave him. In attempting to nail down the look and feel of the standard first person shooting video game, Hardcore Henry knocks it out of the park.

However, in doing so, the movie manages to fall short in a few places. For example, the actual action sequences, the shooting, the chases, the fights, these are the hardest parts of the movie to follow. So much of it feels out of control, as we only get to see what’s happening from Henry’s eyes. In a video game, these would be the moments that you the player would be in control, between the cutscenes, and keeping up with the action would be more important in these moments than any other. You get the idea of what’s going on, especially when each scene ends with Henry standing and a pile of dead bodies on the floor, but more often than not, it’s hard to see exactly what got us there.

Then there are moments that would feel natural in any other movie, but feel out of place here because they don’t fit in the video game aesthetic that the movie is going for. This can be something as simple as cutting from one shot to the next. In a movie this happens all the time. Try counting the cuts between shots in almost any scene in any movie and you’d be surprised to find out how many there are. However, movie style cuts between shots almost never happen in video game footage, especially first person footage like Hardcore Henry is emulating. Because of this almost every cut in the movie ends up feeling jarring and unexpected, taking you out of the movie for a second as you have to continuously recalibrate yourself for the next shot in the movie.

It’s a fun idea. It’s amazing how well the movie pulls it off. It’s a lot to ask of an audience to get on board with this crazy, potentially disastrous gimmick, and it’s really fun to see what the movie does to achieve its look and feel. Still it never really rises above the core gimmick idea of the project and this bizarre video game/movie hybrid won’t be creating a new genre of creative storytelling anytime soon.

Chris: Definitely a movie meant to be watched with a group of people that enjoy an action movie. It was an ambitious concept to shoot a movie like this and I’m glad they went for it even though the movie was far from flawless. The overall acting wasn’t great but if you were going into Hardcore Henry for the acting then we need to have a different discussion. The only movie I can compare this to is Cloverfield which gave me a huge headache watching in the theater but that was because the entire movie was shot on handheld and when you run, your hand naturally goes towards the ground causing a lot of shots to pointed down. Hardcore Henry was a little bit better because the camera is Henry’s eyes which most people don’t stare at the ground the whole time they’re running. However, one bad aspect about all this is that the action is happening so quickly and so much is going on that it happens quicker than the audience’s brain can figure out what they’re seeing. Again, I’m glad this movie was made in the way that it was and now I’m exciting to see another movie take this idea and perfect it.

Jason: This was the third time I watched this movie. I saw it in the theater when it came out, I watched it at home on my regular TV, and then we watched it as a group on Chris’s projector. The big screen is a major boon to this particular concept. Having Henry’s perspective be your entire field of view makes it incredibly immersive. I literally felt out of breath by the time it was all over. Watching it on a normal screen was still cool but I got lost in some of the faster sequences.

I was going to talk about the video game inspiration for the movie but I think Joel exhausted that conversation. I will mention that it is more integrated with gaming than you thought. There are game posters peppered throughout the movie, including Payday 2 (in which Jimmy has a cameo) and Left 4 Dead (which clearly inspired the rooftop climax of the film). I would love to see some sort of game adaptation spinoff of this movie. Maybe the sequel to the story could be a game. It would be such a natural move to make.

This is not a film for the faint of heart or stomach. If you get motion sickness, you might just throw up. And if you don’t like gore, then this is one to skip over. As our buddy, John, pointed out, I’m pretty sure it earns its R-rating before the opening credits are done. But if hyper-faced-paced action, parkour, guns, horse riding, musical numbers, and unexplained telekinetic powers are your thing, Hardcore Henry is an absolute must watch!