Virtual Insanity

The modern age of cinema comprises mostly of young adult movies, streams of pointless sequels, annoying reboots of cherished favourites and of course superhero films. In among the seemingly never ending unoriginality there is the occasional head scratcher of a flick that comes out of nowhere and grabs your attention.

Rarer still a film will come along that pounds the senses and smashes you about the head to such an extreme that it demands that you sit up and pay attention to what the studio/director has to say. Not that it is necessarily anything big or clever, and there may not be any sort of social commentary or deep, meaningful message behind their work but the film demands you give of your time anyway.

Never has there been a film more fitting of this description than 2015's Hardcore Henry, a movie that is so unbelievably insane that it has to be seen to be believed.

Written and directed by Ilya Naishuller Hardcore Henry is basically a full length version of Naishulliers 2013 short Biting Elbows: Bad Motherfucker and is in essence a 96 minute long video game. The entire movie is shot in the first person perspective as we see events unfold through Henrys eyes. There have of course been movies that have used this idea before (Blair Witch and Doom spring to mind) but this only constitutes a small part of the overall film and I cannot think of another example of an entire film being shot in this way though I'm sure there probably has been at least one.

The movie opens with Henry as a child being picked on by other kids and then being called a pussy by his dad who is played by Tim Roth. Jumping forward we find Henry waking up in a lab where he is shown to have lost an arm and a leg. A female scientist named Estelle tells Henry shes his wife, and fits him with robotic replacements. The lab is then attacked by the films villain Akan who has the power of telekinesis which he uses to kill the other scientists. Henry and Estelle escape in a pod as we discover they are on an airship that is in flight.

Crashing on the freeway they are confronted by Akans forces who kidnap Estelle and try to kill Henry who is saved by a man named Jimmy (played by Sharlto Copley). The two make their escape but Jimmy ends up dead and Henry has to try to make his escape alone despite not being able to talk and having no memories of anything prior to waking up in the lab.

What follows is a breathless journey of carnage and gore as Henry tries to make his way through the relentless forces that are in his way so that he can finally get his hands on Akan and save his wife. Along the way he encounters multiple versions of Jimmy all of whom end up dead. This is explained in the third act of the movie when we meet the original Jimmy who once worked for Akan but was crippled by the crazed baddie. He has therefore created a series of Avatars through which he lives vicariously. This in turns leads to a rather bizarre song and dance routine that I cannot do justice to in words.

There is nothing ingenious about the plot of this film, it is nothing more than an action movie fans wet dream and if the likes of Arnie, Sly and Bruce are your cup of tea then you are likely going to love each and every second of this movie. Hell even if you are not a fan of the action genre I would recommend watching Hardcore Henry just for the unique experience it offers us as viewers.

Henry eventually gets to Akan who has an army of super soldiers just like Henry ready to kill our hero for their master. It is also revealed that Estelle was actually part of Akans plan as she is in fact his wife. Henry of course goes mental and kills everybody bringing the movie to a close.

Theres not alot more I can say about Hardcore Henry as it truly is one of those movies that you have to make your own mind up about. It fits right alongside the likes of Eraserhead and other movies of that ilk where you will either love it or hate it, either way you will most definately have an opinion.

For the record I am not usually a fan of shaky cam films but there was something about this film that just appealed to me and kept me engrossed throughout and for that reason I am going to give it a much deserved 6.5 out of 10.