HARDCORE HENRY
Dir: Ilya Naishuller (15, 90 mins)
A first person shooter video game as a whole film? There’s no denying some of the ingenuity on show in Hardcore Henry, but there’s also no denying the fact that it’s not a satisfying experience. At least in a video game you can control your character, in this film there is no character or plot, just a string of relentless action set pieces with no emotional content or real point. Henry, essentially the audience’s POV, is a mute amnesia victim following game master Sharlito Copley’s every whim, having to get to checkpoints, you know like in a game, all to save his wife. You face off against albinos, throw grenades, cut throats, anything a Go-Pro can put you through, but it adds up to no more than an adolescent boy’s action fantasy. Homophobia, sexism and nudity back up the relentless, mind numbing action making Hardcore Henry a blunt assault on the senses and nothing more.