TomOpus

I know people who avoid films like this. They got queasy during Blair Witch and cannot take shaky cam. So, I imagine they are targeting a specific segment of moviegoers when they cut the trailer as such.

I am just glad I don't get queasy very easily.

Brian T

As noted earlier, the filmmakers certainly seem to have made every effort to minimize the potential nausea that a film like this might trigger in some people. Not saying it won't still happen, but as someone who was pushed well past the point of nausea during Blair Witch (see top of previous page) -- which, in fairness, was the first "shaky-cam" movie I'd seen on a massive theater screen, and sitting only about four rows back, which didn't help) -- I was pleasantly surprised to suffer no adverse side effects in Hardcore despite fully expecting to. Again I think Naishuller and company were extremely precise with the design of their action sequences, leaving nothing to chance, despite what may seem like pinball craziness in the trailers and even in the finished film. I don't recall any moments (major ones, anyway) where the camera -- and thus the viewer's POV -- feels like it's just flailing around aimlessly because it's in someone's hand and you can't "anchor" your eyes to any kind of definable reality until it stops, as is often the case in a lot of post-Blair Witch "found footage"-style shows.

Shannon Nutt

I could barely sit through the trailer for this when I saw it in the theater. Shaky cam I can deal with. Shaky cam PLUS POV makes me nauseous.

TomOpus

My friend that was affected by Blair Witch told me he was sitting way in the back. I'm curious on his thoughts about this movie. I will let him know about your experience with Hardcore if he's feeling apprehensive.

HN

comes out swinging on RT with 16 to 1 glowing reviews

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hardcore_henry/

(or wait...were those already there from awhile ago and i'm just noticing it now? )

bluetoast

I don't understand the complaint. It's not like they messed up on the font, it's pretty obvious they wanted the "Henry" to look different.

DaveyJoe

This movie looks like the equivalent of watching your buddy play Call of Duty.

Josh-da-man

Gah. This thing looks awful.

TomOpus

What complaint? It was just an observation.

bluetoast

Ah well, it seemed normal, not like any oversight on their part but a design choice.

TomOpus

I can understand that it was a design choice. Just for movies like this they tend to have BIG BOLD fonts like used for the word "Hardcore." Actually, if I did have a complaint, maybe they should've kept the title instead of changing it.

The Bus

I thought they were taking cues from 80s action VHS cover designs, but you're right: most of those had a single font for the entire title.

Decker

Sure, if your friend charged you $11 for the privilege.

DJariya

I think I would get a headache watching this in the theater from it's First person POV. Looks like a rental to me, if that. I tend to get nauseous playing First person shooter games.

SuperJim88

Actually, there is a little bit of mess up on their part. I remember reading an article on this. The original title of the film was just Hardcore, but the studio or producers or someone fear that it mistaken as XXX film so they slapped Henry in later. I'm not going to bother diggin up the article link so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Decker

That makes sense. I think there was a George C Scott movie in the 70s called Hardcore where he rescues his daughter from the porn industry or something like that.

bluetoast

Whoah- you're right. Didn't know that, though the "logo" still looks stylized rather than cobbled together.

Brian T

The title of the movie when it played TIFF was just Hardcore (which I suppose explains the unaltered title of this thread as well).

I'm curious to revisit it at some point -- maybe theatrically, maybe on Blu-ray -- to see what changes Naishuller made while it's still reasonably fresh in my memory.

A lot of those reviews linked through RT do indeed seem fairly recent, with only a few dating from TIFF, where I don't think it was on the radars of many critics at all (as often happens when the normally predictable Midnight Madness program fields a real breakout).

And once again, to all the naysayers here who haven't actually watched the film yet and are assuming it's nothing more than the equivalent of watching someone play video games for two hours, it's really not. Having done both, I can say without reservation that watching gamers roam around endlessly while occasionally engaging in combat gets tiresome very quickly. Hardcore never does. And it's a LOT more fun (and funny), too.

bluetoast

What about exposition, etc? Do they have him just standing there looking at people while they're talking/explaining shit, or is it just constant action

Brian T

Most of the set-up is near the beginning, where amnesiac Henry's scientist wife is "repairing" him on a sort of sky-lab thingy, so while he's indeed looking at her while she speaks to him, you can also see the various prosthetics being attached and tested out via a quick succession of cuts. The villain then blasts his way in (with plenty of goon fodder) and explains a few more things, as does the wife as she helps Henry get to the escape pod before getting taken hostage by the villain (and thus providing Henry's motivation for wiping him out). From there, yes, it's pretty much constant action and combat, by design. Sharlto Copley's characters dole out more expository nuggets, mostly within action sequences, or for just a few moments before the shit hits the fan again. The only real breather the film takes -- on purpose -- is a musical number. Really. And even that reveals the truth about a major character, so it's not superfluous. Having the POV camera "embedded" in Henry's head allows the filmmakers to trim even more expository fat with little video glitches that mask jumps in time (if that makes any sense).

bluetoast

Thanks for that info, that approach makes sense. I'll be checking it out.

d2cheer

What!!! You have never been charged for that??? I am starting to think I got some pretty shitty friends...

bcd

I saw this at an advanced screening on WED at the Alamo Drafthouse. To get this out of the way, I did have an issue with the POV for the whole movie, there were a few times where I had to not look at the screen to get my bearings. Outside of that, the movie was pretty awesome!! Copley was fantastic in it, and was a real high point, and the action was pretty great! Great fight scenes, great comedic beats throughout. Also some really great FPS video game nods in there as well! I would love to get my hands on the DVD just for a behind the scenes featurette to see how it was filmed.

Solid Snake

asianxcore

Going to try and see this over the weekend.

If I can sit through the entirety of Hotel Inferno (2013) being shot in a very similar manner, I can sit through this.