11- Khiem D.: Hardcore Henry: The Art Of Action

 Hardcore Henry: The Art Of Action

Hardcore Henry is a 2015 action movie following the protagonist quite literally as it is a first person movie. It is about an amnesiac cyborg man who wakes up in a Russian Lab which then has to save his wife from a telekinetic albino. Yes the plot is stupid, but thankfully we aren’t talking about it we are talking about how the director perfectly captures the heart of action movies. He achieves this by combining great choreography, spectacularly crazy setpieces, and an over the top feel.

Let’s start off with the main premise, the first person camera which immerses us into the choreography. And what a glorious display of choreography as every movement feels visceral as Henry stabs a person, we stab the person, when he Assassin’s Creeds somebody we feel the force behind it. If it isn’t entertaining why do it right? That’s the whole point of action movie choreography and that’s what the director does by employing his expertise as he had previously shot other projects in the same first person format. He also has a background in parkour and has a moderate understanding of firearms so pretty much the core of most action.

Then we have the environment in which Henry and us experience as we have the near limitless urban landscape of Moscow, Russia. Word of warning, if you're afraid of heights, this is magnitudes worse then most movies because of the first person as Henry scales buildings, parkours along the tops of bridges, and generally gets tossed like a ragdoll a ton. This all builds to create a fresh ever changing arena for him to progress through, even once through a forest and abandoned factory.

Now we get to the main show, how incredibly unrealistically crazy everything is as there really is not an important plot. Everything happens just to make the journey from beginning to end entertaining, forcing the audience to turn off their brains to just bask in the ultraviolent media, like viewing a gladiatorial fight. For example, the albino guy I mentioned is never developed further besides the bad guy who happens to be crazy powerful, being able to toss a tray to embed in another person’s skull. Then there’s Jimmy the immortal sidekick (I’m serious) who is easily the best character, who dies like ten times in the movie only to reappear as another persona. If you’re ever looking for a movie just to have fun and if your not squeamish about gore, nudity, and overall debaucherous content, give Hardcore Henry a try, it’s literally free on YouTube for some reason.

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