Hardcore Henry is the result of apair of music videos that the director, Ilya Naishuller, made for his band, Biting Elbows, back in 2011. A first-person shooter POV movie has already been done, though.
Over the past couple years, audiences have become more and more demanding of action movies. Since the early 2000’s they have been getting bigger, louder, and bloody. This trend has made ground breaking movies like The Matrix seem PG-13. Hardcore Henry is one such movie, or at least that’s what it promises to be.
Hardcore Henry is the result of apair of music videos that the director, Ilya Naishuller, made for his band, Biting Elbows, back in 2011. While Naishuller’s vocal abilities aren’t the best, his work behind the camera made many wonder if he had a future in filmmaking. So, with the help of Sharlto Copley (District 9, Elysium, Maleficent) and Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted, Abe Lincoln Vampire Hunter, Ben-Hur), Hardcore Henry was born.
The story is as straight forward as any first-person-shooter, and it prides itself on that simplicity. Without giving anything away, there are basically only two plot twists throughout the whole movie. Pretty simple, right?
The concept for the movie is pretty revolutionary, and will no doubt be the first of many first-person movies. Essentially The Blair Witch Project of action movies. That being said, similarly to The Blair Witch Project, it is more so an experiment and gimmick rather than a serious movie. From the trailer alone, it is clear that Naishuller and his team were more concerned with having fun and trying new things rather than telling a well put together and coherent story.
The end result of such experimentation is a generic sci-fi action movie that gave this reviewer a head-ache – the three beers beforehand didn’t help either. The fact of the matter is that while Hardcore Henry is a self-labeled over-the-top action movie, it’s often difficult to see and appreciate the visceral, bloody chaos that is happening on screen. So many times during the movie I wished for a third person shot so that I could get some kind of grasp on what the hell was going on.
Frankly, Naishuller and his team misunderstood what was so appealing about Biting Elbows’ music videos. It wasn’t the first person POV – it was that they appeared to have long, uninterrupted takes.
As a result of the first person POV the audience feels a distance from the movie, not to mention a head-ache. A “one-take” action movie would do the opposite. It would draw in the audience by making everything seem almost documentary like – i.e.Children of Men,True Detective,Oldboy,Creed, andHard Boiled.
Sadly, Hardcore Henry, a movie with such promise, does not live up to expectations and instead merely fizzles out and disorientates. Audiences are better off staying home and watching a great, inventive action movie like Mad Max: Fury Road, The Raid 1 & 2, Kingsman, or Dredd.
Finally, to anyone who thinks that Hardcore Henry did something totally new and original, all I have to say is this:Doom did it first.
My name is Steffan Carlson. I am an English major at DePaul University with a concentration in Creative Writing.
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Let’s face it. We all know Tamotsu is both a nerd and an idiot. He lets the nerd show by taking pictures of a figure. Then he lets the idiot form show by breaking said figure. Did I mention it’s Niwaka’s? Yeah, no. Don’t break the small child’s items. She’s your precious little sister Tamotsu, how dare you.
Anyway, in order to get the money to purchase a new figure, Tamotsu decides to become a butler at a maid-themed bar. That sounds fun enough for any nerd. However, with high pay also comes a high price.
Tamotsu ends up basically working himself to death, becoming thinner and more exhausted. However, he continues working himself to death for 17 days straight. I guess the constant “Thank you’s” from staff members were enough to keep him going.
But he gets brought back to his senses by little sis Niwaka, and the real action begins.
I still don’t understand why Tamotsu couldn’t see that his boss was a Bugged One. It honestly made me crack up that the main characters were so shocked by that “big reveal”. It should have been obvious!
And of course, like the end of every episode, all’s well that ends well. Everyone’s happy. And Akiba’s safe, for now. Meanwhile, I still want to know more back story on Matome, and how she became to be what she is. But I’m sure I’m not getting that anytime soon.
I’m lowering my rating a bit to a 2.9 out of 5. Once again, ‘Akiba’s Trip’ has fallen back into its stereotypical routes. I want refreshing content, not the same repetitive stuff. Oh well. I guess I’ll keep watching to see if anything new comes up.
You know, I wonder how many people actually read my reviews for ‘KONOSUBA’. I understand that it’s popular, considering I see fan art quite often. So it makes me curious as to how many people just don’t get my negative reviews of this show. Or maybe they do, and I secretly have people on my side who do get me. Who knows.
Anyway, let’s try and not break the fourth wall. Once again, as soon as I get my hopes up for this show improving, those dreams get crushed right in front of me. Yet again, the latest episode of ‘KONOSUBA’ was full of ridiculous things.
So I guess Vanir is actually alive. That’s great, I guess. But he’s not bent on being a villain like he was when he was first introduced, and I’m disappointed by that.
Also, Kazuma gets an upgrade! Wow, it’s about dang time. Because compared to your well-dressed comrades, you’re nothing, Kazuma. Nothing!
I mean, look at that cool katana! Now that’s a katana! It’s a nice katana! Oh, but you don’t want to use it because it gets in the way. Oh. Okay.
And look at this cool armor you can get! You’ll finally stand out and live up to be a great protagonist! Oh, but you can’t even walk in it because you’re a weak baby? Oh. Okay.
Anyway, before I bash on Kazuma too much. The four heroes are given the task of killing Lizard Runners. As usual, they fail at this, and Kazuma even dies.
Now let me say once again that I still haven’t watched the first season of ‘KONOSUBA’. So, this was the first time I’ve seen Eris. And she seems so cute and interesting! Why can’t the series just end with Kazuma deciding to spend the rest of his days with her, even if that means dying? Grr.
But of course he comes back for more antics. Boy oh boy, I can’t wait to see them all continue to fail at their jobs.
So I’ll lower my rating a bit to a 2.5 out of 5. The same concepts are happening over and over. Kazuma’s weak. The girls each have their own issues. I get it. Also, Vanir was cool, so why ridicule him by making him wear an apron?
So according to a graph released by Crunchyroll the other day, a good portion of the Midwest loves ‘KONOSUBA’. And I guess I don’t understand why. Thank goodness my home state likes ‘Saga of Tanya the Evil’. Because at least that’s a decent show.
Maybe I should give the first season of ‘KONOSUBA’ a shot. Maybe watching that will change my opinion of it. But I doubt it. I’m still watching this for the sake of laughing out loud at stupid stuff.
But this episode tricked me this time, because it wasn’t as ridiculous as some of the other episodes are. There’s actually a decent villain, and, even though he has a somewhat stereotypical plan, he’s interesting all the same.
And of course, it’s none other than Aqua’s fault for there being new monsters in Keele’s Dungeon. Actually, when is it not one of the girls’ faults for there being trouble? I feel like the only actual troublesome thing Kazuma does is steal girl’s panties. Just saying.
Anyway, we’re introduced to Vanir, one of the Devil King’s commanders. He possesses Darkness, but through her strong will and addiction to masochism, our protagonist is given the opportunity to defeat Vanir once and for all by blowing Darkness up. No, seriously. That’s what happens.
With Vanir defeated and Darkness saved, the town is overjoyed and to repay them for their efforts, Kazuma’s huge debt is paid off and he’s given a big reward on top of that.
Which, in my opinion, this battle wasn’t that terrific or anything. Maybe I’m just used to long and drawn out battles, but whatever. It took him five episodes, but Kazuma’s paid off his debt. Hooray. Now what? Who knows and really, who cares.
I’m sorry if you enjoy ‘KONOSUBA’. By all means, if you love this show, then go for it, more power to you.
But for now, I’ll actually boost my rating to a 2.7 out of 5. I found the villain in this episode interesting enough, and I’m glad that we’re finally past the “must get debt paid off” arc.
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