“Hardcore Henry” focuses on the adventures of Henry, a man who was evidently horribly damaged in an accident and who has been put back together by a team of scientists, including his wife. According to the opening scenes, Henry didn’t particularly like her chosen field of work. He comes to have a certain appreciation for it, however, when she replaces his missing limbs with an artificial arm and leg. It’s rather creepy watching the rotating foot install as his leg twists into place.
Before I forget to mention it, the entire movie is told from a first person perspective. You are inside Henry’s head, seeing the action unfold through his eyes. That makes the scenes where he’s being reassembled all the more disturbing.
But I digress.
Once he’s been reassembled, but before his voice modulator can be reinstalled, the lab he is in is attacked by the villain of our story, a man named Akan, who is creating an army of super soldiers with the aid of Henry’s wife. Estelle, the wife, helps Henry escape and together they find themselves in an escape pod descending back to a future Earth and the country of Russia. In a convoluted way, we discover that Russian government types are after this poor guy. Good thing he has a killer instinct.
And what a killer instinct it is. Just when he needs them, he always manages to get his hands on guns and the first person perspective of the killings is gory and fascinating to watch. The special effects department worked overtime on this gem.
This movie really belongs to Sharlto Copley, though. He’s the guy who, a few years back, starred as Howling Mad Murdock in the big screen re-boot of “The A-Team.” Here he plays Henry’s friend, Jimmy, who helps him stay alive and gives him instructions on where to go and what to do to survive. Jimmy’s only problem is that every time he meets up with Henry, Jimmy is killed in some gruesome way. He’s shot, flambéed, eviscerated and just plain old fashioned shrapnelled which would put a damper on just about anybody’s day.
But not Jimmy. No, the guy will jump into a song and dance number while the killers are hot on Henry’s heels and aiming to kill both of them.
One of the funniest sequences occurs when Henry finds himself in the middle of a desert and a horse nearby seems to offer an enticing means of transportation back to civilization. The horse has other ideas, though, and rides off into the sunset to the tune from “The Magnificent Seven.”
This movie is, for lack of a better description, a completely convoluted mess. The plot is next to non-existent and the acting from the mostly Russian cast is passable at best.
There’s a brief interlude in the end credits that seems to be setting the stage for a sequel. I wouldn’t doubt there will be another installment. This movie is just about bad enough to justify one.
By the way, we do see Henry’s face briefly, but we never really get a good idea of what he really looks like.
This is probably fine since he, given the misadventures he finds himself in during this story, more than likely looks about as bad as this movie.
I give “Hardcore Henry” two out of five stars.
