Hardcore Henry

Actors: Sharlto Copley, Danila Kozlovsky, Haley Bennett, Tim Roth

Rating: 7 out of 10, If the opening credits of a movie features bullets entering faces and throats being cut than you have a pretty good idea what’s in store. Non-stop shooting, stabbing, fist fighting, and the odd humorous Sharlto Copley appearance ensued; all told from the point of view of the hero, literally. I was reminded of watching my son play video games which I was too old to be trapped into. It was interesting to watch him venture down passageways dispatching all who came into view with a variety of weapons – that’s Hardcore Henry. It was jarring at times trying to figure out what exactly was happening as the view swung wildly as Henry mowed his way through a horde of Russian gangsters and Moscow subway crowds. He’s a cyborg trying to find his kidnapped wife while Copley plays a mysterious helper who rebounds nicely after getting killed in a number of gruesome ways. I liked this which I’ll probably have to apologize for at some point in the future but the movie makers took chances to really imbed the viewer into the eyes of the action hero. It doesn’t always work well but it was a hell of a ride. When Henry finally reaches the end of the long line of people trying to kill him, he pulls his own electronic eye out of its socket and uses the wiring to decapitate the villain, like I said, kind of a violent movie. It was all very Russian.

MVP: Ciopley as the ever reincarnated Jimmy