Hardcore Henry (2016)
Directed by: Ilya Naishuller
Premise: An assassin wakes up in a laboratory where he discovers that his body has been infused with cybernetic enhancements. He then goes on the run from gangsters with the help of a mysterious technician who keeps reappearing in different disguises.
What Works: The story premise of Hardcore Henry
is not all that different from many other sci-fi shoot ’em up movies.
What is novel about this picture is the way that it is shot. Hardcore Henry
takes place entirely from the point of view of the title character, as
though the camera were his eyes, and the entire film unfolds from his
perspective. Although it looks like the found footage format, this is
something categorically different. Seeing these events through someone
else’s eyes means that the visual style can’t use the same cheats of a
found footage picture but because the character is disoriented, the
filmmakers are able to incorporate formalistic elements. Henry cannot
talk and he is thrown into a chaotic and violent scenario while trying
to sort out what is going on. In that respect he’s in the same position
as the audience and the filmmakers have created a premise that matches
the unusual format of the picture. The unique approach to this film
allows the moviemakers to create some bizarre visuals and Hardcore Henry is frequently bonkers. This is not a movie about plot or coherent storytelling; Hardcore Henry
exists to provide a visceral and violent first-person experience and
the movie mostly succeeds at that. As a technical exercise, there’s a
lot to admire in Hardcore Henry. The film’s illusion of continuity is mostly seamless and whatever the problems of the movie, it must be said that Hardcore Henry
is unlike anything else in the cinema marketplace right now. The
picture also features a notable performance by Sharlto Copley as the
mysterious technician who shows up to repair Henry’s circuits and
generally help him along. Each time Copley’s character appears he is in
a different guise, recalling Peter Sellers’ multiple performances in Dr. Strangelove.
What Doesn’t: The format of Hardcore Henry
is a gimmick and that gimmick is both the greatest strength of the
movie and a critical weakness. The moviemakers put the audience in
Henry’s point of view but who he is remains a mystery. The style of Hardcore Henry
prevents the movie from establishing Henry as a character and it foils
the audience from achieving any kind of empathy with him. That means
the movie fails as a piece of drama. The filmmakers are able to give
the audience a first person perspective but there isn’t much going on
in this movie besides the bloodshed and there are no dramatic stakes to
anything. That limits the impact of the action; the violence can only
ever have a superficial meaning and it only has immediate
moment-to-moment gratification. That may be the point but it’s
exhausting to watch. If anything, Hardcore Henry illustrates the difference between video games and feature films and the folly of trying to merge those genres. Hardcore Henry duplicates the style of first-person-shooter video games like Doom and Call of Duty
and watching this movie is a lot like watching someone else play a
video game. A video game’s main focus is not plot or character although
it may have those things. The satisfaction of a video game is found in
the interactivity between the user and the imagery. Feature films don’t
have that same kind of interactivity but cinematic storytellers do
have the freedom of omnipresence that a gamer cannot experience; even
if a movie provides the similar thrills of shootouts and car chases,
the action of a feature film takes on a different kind of meaning
because of the drama. Hardcore Henry robs the video game of
interactivity and the motion picture of character and story. As a
result the movie is uninvolving and largely pointless.
Bottom Line: Despite some impressive technical craft, Hardcore Henry is a less interesting and less audacious version of Crank. Its ambition is admirable but that’s not enough to make up for the movie’s vacuity.
Episode: #591 (April 17, 2016)