HARDCORE HENRY

First-person, second-rate?

released 1 august 2015 | 18 | BLU-RAY/DVD Director Ilya Naishuller Cast sharlto Copley, tim roth, Haley Bennett, andrei dementiev

PS4 knackered? Then stick Hardcore Henry in your player. It’s essentially a first-person shooter, and a very violent one to boot. The drawback for gamers is that they can’t actually influence events.

Those concern a cybernetic soldier who’s brought back from the dead with no vocal cords or memories. Given instructions by a variety of characters, all played by Sharlto Copley, he embarks on a mission to thwart a Magneto-like villain, Akan (Danila Kozlovsky).

If you like violence, you’ll love it. Flamethrowers, machine-guns, pliers… you name it, they’re all used to inflict pain on human beings. The stunt work is remarkable and the technical prowess awe-inspiring. But although the film is not without wit, albeit of the treacle-black type, it gets wearying – there’s only so much relentless brutality you can take, especially when it’s sometimes not clear who’s doing what to who. Henry also can’t talk, and that may have been an error, because it could have at least allowed for more characterisation and perhaps some quips.

But in the end that’s not what Hardcore Henry is about; it’s a movie for people who want their movies to look like videogames.

Extras Commentary by the director and Copley; no sign of the deleted scenes and “fan chat” from the US release.

At one point a poster for Lady In The Lake, a 1947 film shot entirely from the protagonist’s point of view, is seen on a wall.

While the hotel was a little overcrowded, the head cleaner was very nice.