Character Spotlight- Henry- Hardcore Henry

 

**This post contains spoilers**

Half man, half machine, equipped with state-of-the-art technology, Henry is the future of super soldiers! But Henry doesn’t have flashy superpowers? He can’t fly? He doesn’t have any catchy one-liners, or a big spirited monologue? So what’s so special about him? 

There’s something mysterious about this particular voiceless super soldier, because we don’t know a lot about Henry. Sure, they give us bits and pieces of Henry’s story and his past. His dad was a mechanic. Henry was obviously picked on a lot as a kid, and if we’re going by his grisly injuries, it’s safe to assume Henry was in the military. Maybe he was the victim of a catastrophic attack, or is there a chance he worked in law enforcement? So many different possibilities, including Henry being a soldier for an organized crime family. 

No, Henry is not as smooth, crisp, and brutal as John Wick, and he’s not a Terminator. Henry struggles during the chase and the fight with Slick Dimitry (Andrei Dementiev). Akan (Danila Kozlovsky) EASILY swats Henry away like a fly for the vast majority of the movie, and Henry literally can’t lay a finger on Akan, because he’s just too powerful. 

Henry is learning as he goes. The fights are sloppy, rough, and Henry struggles every now and then. But during Henry’s journey, you can see flashes of confidence. Little by little, he truly becomes Hardcore Henry. That’s what I’ve always loved about Henry’s character development: it’s messy, because he’s not simply tearing through all the bad guys with ease. Henry looks like a klutz at times, but in the end, he puts all of the pieces together to become a resilient and scrappy ass-kicking machine.

There’s a reoccurring flashback throughout the movie that shows a group of bullies picking on Henry, and breaking one of his toys. Needing that one last motivational push to defeat Akan, Henry remembers the “you little pussy” pep talk from his father (Tim Roth), after he chased the bullies away. Henry’s mind was clogged up with fake memories centered around his “wife,” Estelle (Haley Bennett), so he needed a spark from someone, who actually cared about him. Truly a wild series of events for the big final battle. That one memory from his father encouraging him to stand up for himself, so he can fight back against the bullies is what he needed to jump over that last hurdle to take out Akan.

And let’s not forget about Jimmy (Sharlto Copley), the man of many avatars, a clever scientist, and the brains behind Henry’s rebirth! Jimmy was seconds away from pulling the plug on Henry, but after some stern hand gestures and a good hard slap across the face from Henry, Jimmy came to his senses. Jimmy and Henry formed a bond as friends, united in their disdain for Akan. 

Trust was a big issue for Jimmy, after he was betrayed and crippled by Akan. That’s why Jimmy’s farewell speeches (as himself and using the military soldier avatar) for Henry in the elevator sticks out as the big emotional moments, because Jimmy found a friend, who was willing to risk his life to help him. On top of that, Henry was one of Jimmy’s creations, who wasn’t corrupted or poisoned by Akan.

You’ll see the entire movie through Henry’s eyes, and he doesn’t speak one word from start to finish. And we only see a brief glimpse of his face through a reflection on a shard of glass, but we still know a lot about Henry. He’s tough, he doesn’t quit, and Henry’s got a big heart. 

It was supposed to be over for Henry. He finds out Estelle is actually married to Akan. She worked together with Akan to use Henry as a test subject during a crazy field test, and Akan pummeled Henry to the point, where he was seemingly dead. 

But Henry fought back, killed Akan, and he made sure to rub it in Estelle’s face. Showing Estelle her husband’s mangled head wasn’t enough for Henry. When a distraught Estelle demanded answers from Henry, he had one simple response: using his own blood, Henry wrote the letters “EZ” together on the inside of the helicopter. Ouch, that’s gotta sting for Estelle. 

Henry defeated Akan, the deranged and powerful telepath. He stopped Akan’s army of super soldiers from destroying the world, and he helped Jimmy find peace and closure before his death. Not bad for a guy, who was previously nothing more than a mutilated and dismembered corpse, without the capability to speak, huh?