Hardcore Henry

I applaud the idea, admire the technical realization, and criticize the rest. Hardcore Henry is an unimaginably slick and stylish action flick, where some of the opening scenes (especially the free fall in the escape pod) spike the level of the viewer's experience to unprecedented, and you can really say revolutionary, heights, while the optimally set runtime and a lot of black humour, brilliantly provided by the film's best character(s), the outrageously loud Sharlto Copley, are also a hit. But that's where the good stuff ends, as the frantic, B-movie sci-fi story makes no sense, we know absolutely nothing about most of the characters, including the confused Henry, and the vast majority of motives remain unexplained and unfinished. It's simply too much chaos, which can still be excused for the adrenaline-fuelled action scenes, but even pure cinematic entertainment should strive for a more meaningful or at least more atmospheric plot – we can't even worry about Henry, as he's clearly a blend of every invulnerable Hollywood hero in history. And the last criticism is directed to the final long battle, which, instead of a climactic ending, is in my eyes the weakest action set-piece of the film. I did have fun and if I weren't such an opponent of computer games I might not have objected. 65% (04/29/2016)

The pure fire of an avid fan of decadence who pursues the ultimate physical experience with the vigor of a Soviet bulldozer. The creative stubbornness is admirable, but dramaturgically it's pretty bad because, around the 60th minute, it starts to chafe. The frantic ending, however, lifts up the video game concept (literally) into high gear (arcade jumps included) and revs into the red. It’s a progressive genre detour, but unfortunately into a dead end. (04/23/2016)

In terms of innovation of the action genre, it’s only an appetiser, because Hardcore Henry is far from a full-fledged cinematic experience. There’s no plot and the frantic sequence of action scenes can’t disguise the feeling that this farce is merely a consumer piece with a short shelf-life. Original, technically very accomplished, but also exhausting almost to the max. And this time there was no need for a second or third part, 90 minutes of the first one was enough. (07/13/2016)

A mainline adrenaline hit straight to a player’s heart. Memories of Far Cry, GTA, Crysis and other games and others come rushing at you with every minute of the movie. Sharlto Copley’s and his amazing antics drag this movie forward, but the real hero is Naishuller, who pieced the movie together. Great music. A feelgood movie. (03/05/2017)

An interesting first-person combat film until about halfway through. Then it starts to get boring by repeating virtually the same plot over and over again. I kept wondering how many more enemies Henry would have to shoot, slash, beat or tear apart with his bare hands for the plot to move forward. I still don't know the answer. Even after the death of the last villain, I don't really know what it was all about, or why the main bad guy had telekinetic powers. The film just lacks a point. The plot goes from point A to who knows where or why. 3 stars are for the first 40 minutes and for all Sharlto Copley’s incarnations. (07/09/2016)