First person shooters was a video game genre that I tuned out until the Wii. Their "Call of Duty" knew where I wanted to shoot because I was looking/focusing on my target with only my eyes. Just shoot in the general direction like "Doom".
Screw using a D-pad to aim. It seemed like too much work. The wanting to avoid developing this skill probably provided racist Youtubers an audience.
Now for 10 dollars, I will give any well reviewed game a shot, so I have been catching up to FPS games. These titles are typically worth the investment gameplay wise, and with video game planners wanting their complete vision to be seen, great stories are a welcome bonus to the frantic action. The only problem with this format is that it makes it tough to know when to call it a night.
You come across a tough level, and you want to beat it to end the night on a cut scene. And then the sun rises. There has to be a better way to get the intended experience without bullshit Scandinavian commentary. So attaching a GoPro to a stuntman's head has got to be worth 10 bucks. Too bad I work overnight, so I was two years late to "Hardcore Henry".
Henry awakens to see his wife Estelle make the final hardware additions to his body. All he needs is to get his voice reinstalled, but the man who left him a mute with a stump on his left side, Akan, decides to kidnap the Misses. Not knowing that he is a one man war machine allows Akan's overly enthused Psycho Snake cosplay capture Estelle and knock Henry off an overpass in Moscow.
Fortunately for our protagonist, he seems to have a guardian angel in the form of a frantic Sharlito Copley performance. As Jimmy gives "Split's" James McAvoy a run for his money, he also lays out a path for Henry to get the girl and stop a potential army of cyborgs from being on standby in the event that Putin's Republican collusion fails.
"Hardcore Henry" is not the happy medium between game and story, but it lays the groundwork for great filmmaking. At the very least, it is the blue print for good video game to cinema adaptations. It is all about IP, right?
The plot is laid out so the viewer can follow it despite a great deal of the time you can get lost with the lead moving his head so much. Director Ilya Naishuller still knows to focus on the best images, so it a visual treat like the tunnel in "Willy Wonka". You may still want Hershey's. You cannot (or I cannot, I hope my better quarter [Eva the Cat will always get half] is an anomaly) gorge yourself on Laffy Taffy. So the action can sometimes drag.
On the flip side, this lets you appreciate Copley's multiple characters as the story develops. If you are not a fan of his acting, enjoy seeing him die over, and over, and over again. If that makes him seem like a video game boss that keeps coming back to annoy you, it means the film is doing this live-action video game right.
Once the story gets going, so does the awesome soundtrack. Ironically, it lets you enjoy the flaws I mentioned. "Hardcore Henry" is a film I cannot argue against taking the time to view. The occasional poor visuals are forgivable. Cliché cut scenes have the coolest accented character actors to make you revel in subversion. The repetitive nature is great as long as you have some Freddy Mercury vocals.
And I suppose that is why I liked "Suicide Squad" too.
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