Hardcore Henry
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Ilya Naishuller
Written by	Ilya Naishuller
Produced by	Timur Bekmambetov Inga Vainshtein Smith Ilya Naishuller Ekaterina Kononenko
Starring	Sharlto Copley Danila Kozlovsky Haley Bennett Andrei Dementiev Dasha Charusha Svetlana Ustinova Tim Roth
Cinematography	Sergey Valyaev Andrey Dementiev Ilya Naishuller Pasha Kapinos Vsevolod Kaptur Fedor Lyass
Edited by	Steve Mirkovich
Music by	Dasha Charusha
Production companies	Huayi Brothers Pictures Bazelevs Versus Pictures
Distributed by	STX Entertainment
Release dates	September 12, 2015 (2015-09-12) (TIFF) April 8, 2016 (2016-04-08) (United States)
Running time	96 minutes[1]
Countries	Russia United States
Languages	English Russian
Budget	$2 million[2][3]
Box office	$16.8 million[4]

Hardcore Henry ([Хардкор] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help); also known simply as Hardcore in some countries)^[5] is a 2015 Russian-American science fiction action film written and directed by Ilya Naishuller, and produced by Timur Bekmambetov, Naishuller, Inga Vainshtein Smith and Ekaterina Kononenko. Will Stewart provided additional writing for the film. The film was shot almost entirely from a first-person perspective.

It stars Sharlto Copley, Danila Kozlovsky, Haley Bennett and Tim Roth. The film was released theatrically in the United States by STX Entertainment on April 8, 2016, received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $16.8 million worldwide.

Plot

Waking inside a laboratory on an airship, a man recalls bullies from his childhood. A scientist, Estelle (Haley Bennett), greets him and says his name is Henry, she is his wife, and that he has been revived from an accident that left him amnesiac and mute. After she replaces a missing arm and leg with cybernetic prostheses, mercenaries led by the psychokinetic Akan (Danila Kozlovsky) raid the ship, claiming all of Estelle's research is Akan's corporate property. He kills Estelle's scientists before attempting to murder Henry, but Henry and Estelle flee in an escape pod, landing in Moscow. Estelle is abducted by the mercenaries, who try to kill Henry.

Henry is rescued by a mysterious man, Jimmy (Sharlto Copley), who informs him that his cybernetic implants are running out of power, which will kill him if he can't recharge. Jimmy is killed by corrupt cops bought out by Akan, and Henry is forced to fight his way through both cops and mercenaries, sneaking onto a bus. He is joined by Jimmy — not dead, now an alcoholic, odorous bum — who informs him that one of Akan's associates, Slick Dimitry, has a cybernetic charging pump implanted, which Henry needs to recharge. The two are attacked by a flamethrower-wielding goon. Jimmy is incinerated, but Henry escapes, locating and chasing Dimitry throughout Moscow before capturing him; just as Dimitry promises him information, he is killed by a sniper. Henry removes the pump and receives a call from Jimmy, who directs Henry to a brothel.

Henry meets two more versions of Jimmy — a cocaine-addicted lothario and a shy, awkward geek — who replace his pump. The brothel is attacked by Akan's forces. Henry fights his way through, but encounters Akan, who taunts him with Estelle's kidnapping, revealing she is being transported by an armored convoy. Akan hurls Henry out of the brothel.

Outside, Henry encounters another Jimmy — now a marijuana-obsessed hippie-biker — who transports him to Akan's convoy. Henry finds Estelle - and Akan, who knocks him into the road.

Jimmy finds and resuscitates Henry, only to be shelled by a tank. After killing the tank crew, fending off a helicopter, and failing to ride a runaway horse, Henry finds another Jimmy — a gruff sniper in a ghillie suit — who leads him to an abandoned hotel, where Jimmy is headquartered in a hidden laboratory. Here, the real Jimmy — a quadriplegic scientist — reveals his motive for helping Henry: revenge against Akan, who crippled him after his own cyborg super-soldiers failed. He reveals the other Jimmys are dormant clones that he can control, through which he lives a vice-filled life. The clones attack Henry after Jimmy realizes that Henry has been unknowingly broadcasting his location to Akan, with a strike force closing in. Fending off Jimmy, Henry convinces him to help. Henry and the clones of Jimmy — ranging from a punk rocker to a posh WWII Colonel — fight their way out, killing the force by collapsing the laboratory on them.

Jimmy and Henry drive to Akan's headquarters. They fight their way into an elevator, but Jimmy is mortally wounded. Before dying, Jimmy thanks Henry for being the closest thing to a friend he had, and removes a memory blocker, gradually restoring Henry's memories. Henry fights his way to the highest floor, where he is greeted by Akan, revealing an army of cyborg super-soldiers being fed Henry's memories. One such soldier fights Henry, followed by the rest of the army, chasing Henry to the roof.

Henry wipes out the entire army. Akan arrives and severely wounds Henry. Shortly after, Estelle arrives as well. In reality, Estelle was Akan's wife, forming an elaborate ruse to field-test Henry and use his memories to manipulate cyborg soldiers into doing anything to "rescue" their "wife" — specifically, terrorist attacks and world domination as Akan's loyal slaves. The two leave Henry for dead, leaving in a helicopter. Henry blacks out, but is energized by an emerging memory of his father (Tim Roth) encouraging him to fight back against the childhood bullies seen in the intro. Henry manages to reach Akan, decapitating him with his cybernetic eyestalk. He jumps onto Estelle's helicopter, presenting her Akan's head. Estelle shoots him, but the bullet ricochets off his cybernetic hand and wounds her, leaving her hanging from the helicopter. Estelle pleads with Henry to save her, but Henry slams the door, sending her falling to her death.

Mid-credits, an answering machine message from Jimmy is heard, telling Henry there is "one more thing" to do.

Cast

• Sergey Valyaev, Andrei Dementiev, Ilya Naishuller and others as Henry
• Sharlto Copley as Jimmy
• Danila Kozlovsky as Akan
• Haley Bennett as Estelle
• Tim Roth as Henry's Father
• Andrei Dementiev as Slick Dmitry
• Cyrus Arnold as Nat (credited as "Young Bully #2")
• Ilya Naishuller as Timothy / Higher-Self Merc
• Will Stewart as Robbie
• Dasha Charusha as Katya Dominatrix
• Svetlana Ustinova as Olga Dominatrix

Henry was originally played by Russian stuntman/camera operator ^[6] Sergey Valyaev,^[7] but the camera rig used in production eventually caused him severe neck pain. The role was given to Andrei Dementiev (who also played Slick Dmitry). Dementiev suffered neck pain as well, in addition to losing a tooth after being accidentally struck by a stuntman.^[8] In scenes where Danila Kozlovskiy and Sharlto Copley talked directly to Henry, Valyaev and Dementiev wore shades to prevent the actors from looking at them instead of the camera. In a few scenes, Henry was played by Naishuller himself. Several stuntmen portrayed Henry between scenes - in all, more than ten actors shared the role.^[9]

Production

Hardcore Henry was filmed with GoPro cameras mounted on a specially made mask^[7] designed by Sergey Valyaev, deemed the "Adventure Mask",^[10] and stabilization systems that used either electronics or magnets, created by the movie's director of photography, Vsevolod Kaptur.^[10] Between the electronics and the magnet stabilization systems, Naishuller chose the magnets, as he felt that it resembled natural head movement.^[8][11][12] The recordings from the GoPro cameras were edited to cut the hundreds of shots together into one continuous film.^[13]

Blender, an open-source software, was used for providing most of the visual effects for the film.^[14]

The concept for the film came from the "Bad Motherfucker" and "The Stampede" music videos, which Naishuller made with Valyaev for his band, Biting Elbows. These were also shot with a GoPro from the first-person perspective.^[12] The movie was partially funded with Indiegogo.^[15]

Release

The film premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2015.^[16][17] The film became one of the highest-profile at the festival, and led to a bidding war between Lionsgate, Universal, and STX Entertainment. Ultimately, STX acquired worldwide rights to Hardcore, including a wide release commitment, for $10 million, becoming the studio's first festival acquisition.^[18] It was retitled Hardcore Henry for its international release.^[19] At the festival, the film won the Grolsch People's Choice Midnight Madness Award.^[20] The film was released on April 8, 2016, by STX.^[21] On July 26, 2016, Hardcore Henry was released on Blu-ray and DVD.^[22]

Reception

Box office

Hardcore Henry has grossed $9.3 million in North America and $5.1 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $14.3 million, against a budget of $2 million.^[4]

In the United States and Canada, pre-release tracking suggested the film would gross $7–10 million from 3,015 theaters in its opening weekend, trailing fellow newcomer The Boss ($20–24 million projection) but besting fellow newcomer Demolition ($2–3 million projection).^[23] It grossed $380,000 from its early Thursday screenings and $2 million on its first day. It went on to gross $5.1 million in its opening weekend, finishing 5th at the box office.^[24] After two weeks, the film was pulled from 2,496 theaters which was the second largest third weekend theater drop of all-time, behind Meet Dave (2,523 in 2008).^[25]

Critical response

On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes the film had an approval rating of 50%, based on 125 reviews, with an average rating of 5.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Hardcore Henry seems poised to reinvent the action flick, but without a story or characters worth caring about, its first-person gimmick quickly loses its thrill."^[26] Metacritic gives the film a score of 51 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[27] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.^[24]

In Russia, the film received positive reviews. According to Russian aggregator Kritikanstvo, Hardcore Henry was rated 7.9/10 on average by Russian critics (based on 52 reviews), and received only one negative review.^[28]

Max Nicholson of IGN rated the film 8.6/10 stating "Two parts FPS, one part platformer and a pinch of HowTo Basic, director Ilya Naishuller's Hardcore Henry is a recipe for non-stop, ludicrous fun. While the film's actual story is nigh existent [sic], it's sure to please gamers and action junkies alike with its inventive set pieces and mind-boggling action" and "Hardcore Henry lives up to the title with non-stop, off-the-wall action and a love for all things video games".^[29]

References

External links

• Official website
• Hardcore Henry at IMDb
• Hardcore Henry at Box Office Mojo
• Hardcore Henry at Rotten Tomatoes
• Hardcore Henry at Metacritic
• Hardcore Henry first-person perspective review by Russian film participant - English subtitles.