GoldenJCJ

Good memory. I should have known better because I was picturing Bogart when I wrote my post and I just watched Dark Passage a month or so ago. Doh!

Match

Another POV movie.

Solid Snake

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I'd be up to see it. Not expecting amazing but at least something to keep me interested.

Why So Blu?

Oh, it's on! I had totally forgotten about the original proof of concept one. Looks like they've finally made the actual feature.

Brian T

Saw this at the TIFF premiere a couple of nights back, and frankly I'm kinda surprised at the lack of mainstream reviews for it. Perhaps no one was expecting anything special from a Sharlto Copley movie at this point in his career? Regardless, it's safe to say it's a one of a kind experience and very batshit crazy. The early IMDB reviews are a bit too generous, which is par for the course because Midnight Madness audiences inevitably review the experience rather than just the film, but this one, unlike a few other Midnight shows this year (like the awful GIRL IN THE PHOTOGRAPHS from last night) has a LOT going for it, namely its bullet-speed pacing, knowingly sick sense of humour and wall-to-wall action beautifully choreographed and edited with, thankfully, a keen eye to spatial relationships and geography, something that probably wasn't easy to pull off in an entirely first-person POV video game-style show.

That trailer barely scratches the surface, but it is right on one count: the action never stops.

At the TIFF Q&A, Naishuller claimed 90 of the 120 shooting days were devoted to stuntwork, which seems about right considering the epic scale. This will definitely be a hard R when released, but the kills and gore are so unrelenting -- and so relentlessly over the top -- that it's hard to imagine anyone being offended. The filmmakers planted tongue firmly in cheek and went balls to the wall (if said balls wee smashed repeatedly against said wall, then dragged bloodily down said wall, ripping out chunks of concrete along the way). The laugh quotient is high -- fans of classic cinema around these parts will certainly get a kick out of the horse sequence -- though a tolerance for Copley doing multiple variations on his patented gonzo schtick will be an asset, especially when he breaks into a musical number. Yup, it's that kind of film.

The entire show is from the POV of "Henry", a mechanically-enhanced would-be super-soldier supposedly engineered by his scientist wife in a high-tech lab but quickly forced to confront wave after wave of goons employed by psycho-kinetic supervillain who bankrolled his transformation. Gradually he (and we) uncovers a deeper conspiracy that threatens global security and must be neutralized as swiftly and graphically as possible. Bodies are punched and kicked great distances, shot, stabbed, blown up, set ablaze and dismembered in real time, while vehicles and assorted structures are destroyed with reckless abandon. The highway chase sequence -- partly shown in the trailer -- is surely some kind of classic in the making.

If you're the type made queasy by shaky-cam shows like Blair Witch many moons ago, you'd be wise not to sit too close to the screen for this one, despite the markedly superior picture quality and post-production stabilization work undoubtedly performed. From a distance, though, this thing clearly achieves pretty much everything its makers set out to do, and then some. Probably not a date movie, but for a certain audience it delivers the goods.

I shot the TIFF Q&A afterwards, but be warned, the audio is kind of a mixed bag, too soft/muffled in some spots, but fairly clear in others (which is why I disabled the comments!). Another heads-up, some of what's discussed here might qualify as spoilers:

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Osiris3657

This looks like a lot of fun. I suspect we won't get to see it until next year

RichC2

There's currently a bidding war going on for distribution rights to it:

http://deadline.com/2015/09/hardcore...le-1201528924/

Brian T

Good to know. Even though I attend most of the Midnight Madness shows year after year, it's rare when I'd put one at the top of my list for having breakout theatrical potential, or even truly breaking new ground. I suppose the last two, for me, were Borat and SPL, but most years I find my favourites are in other TIFF programs. Not that I don't love most of the Midnight choices; it's just that so many of them seem destined for VOD or DVD. Nothing wrong with that, since that's where the cult stuff usually goes to find its people anyway, but occasionally it's nice to see one worthy of something better. I doubt HARDCORE will be some kind of mega-blockbuster in a theatrical run, but if they marketed it right, and played up the tongue-in-cheek aspects properly to show that it's something of a knowing lark aimed at the video-game-addled generation, I'm sure it could do respectable business before building its cult status online and on disc. I noticed the Crank movies mentioned much earlier in this thread. This blows those out of the water.

RichC2

Midnight movies are great cult movies in general, they're fun and unique, but I agree they generally don't have theatrical appeal at all. Stuff like Versus, a $10,000 budgeted Japanese zombie action flick, belongs there for sure.

That same TIFF had Ichi the Killer, Full Time Killer and Electric Dragon 80,000 V... what a fun year

Brian T

I remember that year! Saw all of those except Electric Dragon.

Oddly enough, I thought Full Time Killer was the one that didn't belong in that program, especially when To, Wai Ka-Fai, Simon Yam AND Andy Lau were all in attendance. While some of their films might've indeed garnered cult appeal in the west, by then all four were the epitome of mainstream in HK cinema, and that film in particular leaned decidedly arthouse despite the glitzy trappings. I've always wondered if To in particular might have promised to bring future shows as long as he wasn't relegated to the midnight shift.

Brian T

Not sure it's a record for TIFF, but it must be a record for the Midnight Madness section. HARDCORE sold for $10 million. Not bad. Shame it won't have big studio muscle behind it, but hopefully this relatively new STX company has some savvy for getting the most out of crazy genre fare:

http://variety.com/2015/film/news/ha...to-1201597226/

RichC2

STX did well with The Gift, so I think they'll figure out a decent strategy here too.

Solid Snake

damn.

Yeah. I'm interested in this just by concept and what fun it could be. I'm all for interesting things like this.

Osiris3657

Some news:

The title has been changed to Hardcore Henry, and it's coming to theaters on April 8th.

TomOpus

I guess not to be confused with the old George C. Scott movie of the same name or maybe people thinking it's about porn.

Brian T

Cute poster, and actually quite accurate!

TomOpus

You can sure tell they added the "Henry" to the title. Looks like there was enough room to keep the same font.

Anyway, can't wait.

Brian T

There's a new trailer teaser trailer (or whatever they call these silly things) at Deadline. Apparently a new full trailer debuts later Wednesday on some gamer's channel at Twitch, which kinda makes sense.

http://deadline.com/2016/02/tiff-hit...ay-1201698655/

Couldn't help but notice the Huayi Brothers logo tagged on the beginning of this. Don't recall that from the TIFF print. I'm sure China's gaming community is massive and would be ideal for something like this, but I do wonder if it will pass muster with the ridiculous censors there (not that nearly every Mainland citizen doesn't have alternate ways of seeing whatever they want, anyway, but still)

E Unit

Looks like The Raid from a first person perspective. And that's not a bad thing.

And that blond looks cute as hell.

HN

isn't there also a first person perspective zombie movie coming out also? is this a trend for this year?

i'm guessing a lot of people will get nauseous watching these. didn't work with Blair Witch, gimmicky in that little bit in Doom.

it's like with video games, when you're the one playing you can do so for hours because you're in control of the movement so it's not jarring as your brain is already registering which way the motion is going. if you watch someone play, you can't do it for too long is it's fairly dizzying. now imagine that on a giant screen.

Osiris3657

What do you mean it didn't work for Blair Witch. It got great reviews (86% on RT) and made nearly $250MM at the box office.

Brian T

Very apt comparison. Only with more action.

HN

it worked as found footage type of movie and was fresh/new at the time. but extended sequences of them running, panning around quickly, shaky-cam nauseated a lot of people. i think it was the 2nd most* amount of people i saw walking out of a movie.

(*#1 being Mortal Kombat Annihilation)

Brian T

I'm pretty sensitive to that annoying shaky-cam effect. Blair Witch had me struggling to keep down my dinner for all of its second half, to the point I had to close my eyes and eventually finish it at home. I was dreading the same experience with HARDCORE even as I was extremely curious to see it, but the filmmakers by their own admission took technological pains to minimize that effect almost completely. In fact I was so braced for a nauseous reaction, it actually took me a few minutes to realize the film wasn't actually causing one. I know that's just one user's experience, but I suspect it will be true of many others. Gamers, naturally, will dig it because they're eyes are probably well adjusted (or comfortably screwed up?), but as someone who knows the tedium of watching someone else play video games -- and the attendant eye-strain and/or boredom that goes along with it -- I can say I felt almost none of that with this show, since even the most expert gamers are too often stuck in "wandering around" mode which the movie pretty much eliminates entirely.

Still, I'd avoid the front rows just to be safe.

E Unit

Isn't Blair Witch the first found footage type of movie? If so, I hate them for unleashing such utter garbage of the films that copied it. I don't think there's one that's any good. I've given up on them.