Sometimes, a movie comes out that makes for great ranting. And no, I sure as heck do not mean the “good” kind of ranting. I mean the putrid and vile kind. Good god, it’s been since Sandra Bullock’s “Premonition” that I have seen something nearly as bad.
“Hardcore Henry” hardly contains any characters, with the exception of the alleged “wife” character, who really is the lover of the main nemesis of whom Henry chases throughout the film.
Without boring you with details, just imagine playing any “Call of Duty” game. Take that formula and apply Inspector Gadget as the main character’s “inspiration,” if you want to use such a beautiful word for a film like this. Imagine a whole movie from the first-person perspective without any of the fun or even slightly entertaining elements of those silly cartoons. “Hardcore Henry” takes viewers behind the eyes of a man we know nothing about and quickly learn not care about.
The small plot can be summed up here. Henry is brought back from the dead by some experiment, which is not original and recycled from “Universal Soldier.” He chases the trail of a sadistic nemesis with the help of a man named “Jimmy.” Jimmy is supposed to serve as comic relief, but his jokes are not funny. Every time we see him die, he is automatically generated into the next scene, despite dying usually a gruesome death.
Jimmy is not funny. Jimmy annoys the audience, and we hope that once he dies that he is gone for good. But nope, he annoyingly keeps coming back like a bad ‘80s horror movie icon.
Trying to appeal to people who are fans of the aforementioned shooter game series, The Rock’s movie “Doom,” and the forgotten Gerard Butler vehicle “Gamer,” this movie really aims to one thing: to thrill the viewer with the ability to really be uncreative at showing anything other than very gory depictions of a faceless character killing people sent by his nemesis. Oh, and that random nemesis has telekinetic powers for no reason; much like a bad video game made by rookie developers. Some critics thought that it’s fun and original—I can tell you that those critics are not full time movie writers and find “Call of Duty” to be high-class art.

“Hardcore Henry” is a very, very bad movie. It is 1.5 hours of a camera-strapped man running around with guns, grenades and an appetite for pulling his enemies’ hearts straight out of their chests. It has too much gore in a setting where it’s played for cheap gags, which are horrifically unfunny.

It has not plot, no real characters, and only succeeds at one mission: to make the viewer laugh at how over the top and ridiculous the whole thing is.