**This post contains spoilers**
The Story- In Russia, a severely injured and confused Henry awakes in an airborne laboratory. Tasked with his rehabilitation, Henry’s wife, Estelle (Haley Bennett) finishes installing the mechanical upgrades and equipment, including replacing Henry’s severed limbs with a robotic leg and a robotic arm.
Henry’s resurrection is quickly interrupted by Akan (Danila Kozlovsky), a powerful and wealthy telepath, and the man responsible for financing Henry’s rebirth. Estelle and Henry briefly escape Akan, but Akan’s mercenaries kidnap Estelle.
Henry tries to piece together broken memories from his past, while receiving help from a scientist named Jimmy (Sharlto Copley). Henry and Jimmy team up to rescue Estelle, tearing through Akan’s forces to get to her. Akan is close to fulfilling his plans for world domination with an army of super soldiers, and a seemingly airtight plan. Will the duo of Henry and Jimmy be enough to stop Akan?
My Thoughts- Henry is an unusual super soldier. Sure, he has an extremely high tolerance for pain and punishment. His stamina is off the charts, but he’s not completely invincible. Half man, half machine, Henry struggles to hold his own during the early stages of the movie. He truly doesn’t become Hardcore Henry until the tail end of the movie, namely during the big final battle with Akan.
The approach to humanize him as a somewhat ordinary guy, who has to figure things out on the fly adds a bit of normalcy to Henry as a grounded character in a preposterous and over the top movie. He’s the scrappy underdog you want to root for. Henry doesn’t speak one word, including the flashbacks with Henry as a kid. He doesn’t have a speech module, but we still know a lot about Henry. He’s compassionate, fearless, and he has a big heart. Henry was willing to risk everything to save Estelle. Jimmy has serious trust issues, and he’s justifiably paranoid. Towards the end, Jimmy tries to kill Henry, when he suspects Henry is a spy for Akan. Jimmy stubbornly pushes Henry away, but Henry never gave up on the friendship.
He’s a bit too goofy at times, but Danila Kozlovsky’s performance as Akan still works. Akan is an unhinged and eccentric villain, narcissistic to the core with an obvious god complex. He’s delightfully cruel and cold, the kind of evildoer, who deserves his comeuppance.
Sharlto Copley proves he’s a man of many talents here. All of Jimmy’s avatars have their own unique personalities: the coked-up and unhinged party animal, the philosophical stoner hippie, or the gentlemanly military man. Copley shows off his versatility, bringing a specific brand of comedy to match each avatar’s personality, but Copley also proves he can be serious when it’s necessary. There’s an emotional scene towards the end, where the real Jimmy, paralyzed and bound to an electric wheelchair, is dying. The somber transition from Jimmy’s military avatar to his actual human body gives Jimmy the chance to say goodbye to Henry as himself, while Jimmy also acknowledges Henry as a real friend.
Hardcore Henry’s presentation and style is reminiscent of a video game, specifically a first person shooter. You’ll see the entire story through Henry’s eyes, and the video game parallels are undeniable. Henry fighting his way through hordes of henchmen, while battling mid level bosses, with increasing levels of difficulty along the way, including Slick Dmitry (Andrei Dementiev), the man with a shiny sliver jacket and the flamethrower, and the big burly super soldier at Akan’s headquarters.
Special power-ups? Henry takes the bigger battery from the husky super soldier, and he uses shots of adrenaline to fight off Akan’s army. Easy to draw connections to a video game, when your back is against the wall, your health is too low, and you desperately need that Hail Mary boost. Weapon upgrades as the story progresses, and of course there’s the agonizing struggle before the big final boss battle with Akan.
Wait a minute. Estelle is not married to Henry? She’s actually Akan’s wife! That’s right. Estelle was never kidnapped, and Henry’s mission to rescue her was actually an elaborate field operation, because Akan wanted to see one of his super soldiers in action. Henry exceeded expectations as his first big success story. The ultimate test for Akan to confidently carry out his plans for world domination.
It’s a good and genuinely surprising twist. They don’t give away any clues or hints to possibly expose Akan and Estelle’s plan, because everything feels real. The close calls and innocent people are killed throughout the movie during Henry’s quest to save Estelle. MAYBE you could point to the fact that Akan could’ve easily killed Henry whenever he wanted. But Akan has a massive ego, so it’s easy to buy into Akan having fun and just playing around with Henry, knowing he could eliminate him, if he believed Henry was any kind of threat.
The big final showdown between Akan and Henry raises a few questions for logic and continuity. We’re lead to believe Henry is no match for Akan. He’s just too powerful, and during every encounter with Akan leading up to the finale, Henry can’t even lay a finger on him. Henry using the memory of a motivational pep talk from his father (Tim Roth) to give him that extra push to kill Akan is a good scene. Tim Roth is barely in the movie, but he absolutely nails the flashback, where tells a young Henry about the importance of fighting back and standing up for himself.
Akan bleeds from the mouth, whenever he pushes things too hard with his powers. But Henry still couldn’t touch Akan, when he was supposedly weakened? So reliving a fond memory was the key to defeating Akan? It’s a feel good ending, because Akan gets what he deserves, but the lapse in logic is hard to ignore.
The soundtrack is great. Each song in Hardcore Henry perfectly fits and compliments the scenes they’re used in. One of my top picks is, when Henry enters the brothel/strip club, and My Girl is playing in the club.
Hardcore Henry is an inventive, fun, and completely bonkers action film for the super soldier sub genre. Hardcore Henry maintains a high level of energy, while moving at a frenetic pace, featuring brutal violence and bloody gore. There’s a good mix of humor and thrills, because Hardcore Henry is a movie that never takes itself too seriously. Sharlto Copley carries the load for a film that’s full of lively characters, also including Katya (Dasha Charusha) and Olga (Svetlana Ustinova) as The Dominatrixes. And Hardcore Henry wraps up the movie with a satisfying ending after Akan and Estelle’s deaths.
There’s a voicemail from Jimmy during the credits. Jimmy asks Henry to do one more thing for him, but we’re closing in on ten years since the release of Hardcore Henry. Jimmy, Akan, and Estelle are dead, but there’s always more new adventures for Henry. Still, I think Jimmy’s voicemail was more of a way to slightly crack the door open for a possible sequel in the future, without having any concrete plans in place.
Rating- 8/10
