Ridiculous action with a ridiculous gimmick
A lot of films get away with being OK with a cool gimmick. Sometimes it's just insane action (Crank), sometimes it's a great twist (Sixth Sense), and sometimes it's just realizing what you are and having fun with it (Starship Troopers). Hardcore Henry has one hell of a gimmick that turns an OK action movie into a pretty damn unique experience...
This was all filmed via a GoPro camera. For those of you who are unaware, those are the "first person" cameras that have grown immensely popular. This means that the entire film takes place in the first person (you literally see through the eyes of Henry the entire movie)
Henry (no actor, see above) wakes up in a hospital bed missing a couple of body parts. Doctor Estelle (Haley Bennett) tells him that they're married, he died in a horrible accident but she revived him with science and now they're replacing pieces of him with robot pieces. Also, he can't speak because of his injuries (no actor, remember?). As they set him up on the table to restore his voice, the evil Akan (Danila Kozlovsky) shows up to steal her research that revives dead people. Also, he has psychic powers and can throw things with his mind, which is kind of cool. After a quick escape from the bad guy, the action begins...
The best way to describe it is that it is similar to the movie Crank if Crank was just in the first person. Henry gets into gun fights, car chases, foot chases (with some neat parkour), and some more gun fights in his quest to stop Akan. He has a sidekick Jimmy (Sharlto Copley) who pops in and out of the film every so often to help Henry out.
So I suppose the first and probably obvious warning; don't watch this movie if you get motion sick. Once the action starts, it really doesn't stop for most of the movie. Henry moves and gets hit by things pretty constant which means that the camera is constantly spinning and moving (remember, first person perspective so if Henry is getting hit by a car, that camera is getting hit by a car).
It's a very standard action movie but the gimmick is so cool that I forgave a lot of the problems. Had this been filmed more traditionally, this would be a bargain basement straight to DVD action movie that would be neat but forgotten. However, the gimmick worked so well for me that I could forgive a lot of the movies flaws. Helps that the movie doesn't take itself too seriously as ridiculous characters (most of them Jimmy) show up to make us laugh.
Speaking of Jimmy, the movie isn't going to win any awards but Sharlto Copley sure as hell should. You may remember him from District 9 or Chappie but he is easily the best thing about this movie. I don't want to give too much away but he plays multiple characters, each with their own distinct personalities. He single handedly makes what could have been just an OK movie even with the cool gimmick into a pretty good movie.
However, on the other side of that coin, Danila Kozlovsky might be one of the worst actors I've seen. In fact, his voice and stilted dialogue is so bad that I'm not 100% sure it wasn't on purpose. He might actually be the greatest actor in this movie if he was trying to be stilted and awkward every time he was on camera.. Ultimately, I grew to have a weird liking of his scenes as he was so awful that it was hilarious. The rest of the film works well enough that he is able to skate by with the "He's so bad he's good" style of acting.
The action was pretty standard and nothing we haven't seen in a dozen over-the-top action movies but the first person perspective gives it a fresh coat of paint. Overall, it's very smooth and seamless but there was one particular awful looking CGI effects towards the end of the movie. For how great the rest of the movie looked, it was very strange to see one scene of incredibly poor effects. It doesn't kill the movie but it sticks out like a sore thumb.
Ultimately, how much you enjoy the movie will depend on how interesting you think the gimmick is. I thought the gimmick was incredibly cool and Sharlto Copley was so awesome and funny that I looked past a lot of the rough edges.
8.0/10. I'm pretty sure I'm higher on this movie than many others were but I had a blast watching it. As a "first of it's kind", it gets away with some ugly edges that would cripple it without the gimmick but the gimmick was cool enough that I let a lot slide.
Last Review: "Independence Day Resurgence [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.944632-tippy2k2-tells-you-what-to-think-Independence-Day-Resurgence]"
A lot of films get away with being OK with a cool gimmick. Sometimes it's just insane action (Crank), sometimes it's a great twist (Sixth Sense), and sometimes it's just realizing what you are and having fun with it (Starship Troopers). Hardcore Henry has one hell of a gimmick that turns an OK action movie into a pretty damn unique experience...
This was all filmed via a GoPro camera. For those of you who are unaware, those are the "first person" cameras that have grown immensely popular. This means that the entire film takes place in the first person (you literally see through the eyes of Henry the entire movie)
Henry (no actor, see above) wakes up in a hospital bed missing a couple of body parts. Doctor Estelle (Haley Bennett) tells him that they're married, he died in a horrible accident but she revived him with science and now they're replacing pieces of him with robot pieces. Also, he can't speak because of his injuries (no actor, remember?). As they set him up on the table to restore his voice, the evil Akan (Danila Kozlovsky) shows up to steal her research that revives dead people. Also, he has psychic powers and can throw things with his mind, which is kind of cool. After a quick escape from the bad guy, the action begins...
The best way to describe it is that it is similar to the movie Crank if Crank was just in the first person. Henry gets into gun fights, car chases, foot chases (with some neat parkour), and some more gun fights in his quest to stop Akan. He has a sidekick Jimmy (Sharlto Copley) who pops in and out of the film every so often to help Henry out.
So I suppose the first and probably obvious warning; don't watch this movie if you get motion sick. Once the action starts, it really doesn't stop for most of the movie. Henry moves and gets hit by things pretty constant which means that the camera is constantly spinning and moving (remember, first person perspective so if Henry is getting hit by a car, that camera is getting hit by a car).
It's a very standard action movie but the gimmick is so cool that I forgave a lot of the problems. Had this been filmed more traditionally, this would be a bargain basement straight to DVD action movie that would be neat but forgotten. However, the gimmick worked so well for me that I could forgive a lot of the movies flaws. Helps that the movie doesn't take itself too seriously as ridiculous characters (most of them Jimmy) show up to make us laugh.
Speaking of Jimmy, the movie isn't going to win any awards but Sharlto Copley sure as hell should. You may remember him from District 9 or Chappie but he is easily the best thing about this movie. I don't want to give too much away but he plays multiple characters, each with their own distinct personalities. He single handedly makes what could have been just an OK movie even with the cool gimmick into a pretty good movie.
However, on the other side of that coin, Danila Kozlovsky might be one of the worst actors I've seen. In fact, his voice and stilted dialogue is so bad that I'm not 100% sure it wasn't on purpose. He might actually be the greatest actor in this movie if he was trying to be stilted and awkward every time he was on camera.. Ultimately, I grew to have a weird liking of his scenes as he was so awful that it was hilarious. The rest of the film works well enough that he is able to skate by with the "He's so bad he's good" style of acting.
The action was pretty standard and nothing we haven't seen in a dozen over-the-top action movies but the first person perspective gives it a fresh coat of paint. Overall, it's very smooth and seamless but there was one particular awful looking CGI effects towards the end of the movie. For how great the rest of the movie looked, it was very strange to see one scene of incredibly poor effects. It doesn't kill the movie but it sticks out like a sore thumb.
Ultimately, how much you enjoy the movie will depend on how interesting you think the gimmick is. I thought the gimmick was incredibly cool and Sharlto Copley was so awesome and funny that I looked past a lot of the rough edges.
8.0/10. I'm pretty sure I'm higher on this movie than many others were but I had a blast watching it. As a "first of it's kind", it gets away with some ugly edges that would cripple it without the gimmick but the gimmick was cool enough that I let a lot slide.
Last Review: "Independence Day Resurgence [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.944632-tippy2k2-tells-you-what-to-think-Independence-Day-Resurgence]"
As a gaming site, I assume everyone here would understand "First Person" but just in case, here is the trailer that demonstrates what that means