Hardcore Henry

A man wakes inside a laboratory on an airship. A scientist, Estelle, tells him his name is Henry, she is his wife, and that he has been revived from an accident that left him amnesiac and mute. She replaces his missing limbs with cybernetic prostheses, but mercenaries led by the psychokinetic Akan raid the ship before she can replace Henry's voice. Akan claims all of Estelle's research is his corporate property. He kills Estelle's scientists, but Henry and Estelle flee in an escape pod, landing in Moscow. The mercenaries follow and abduct Estelle.

Henry is rescued by a stranger named Jimmy, who informs him that his cybernetic limbs are running out of power, which will kill him if he cannot recharge. Jimmy is killed by corrupt police paid by Akan, but Henry escapes. He is joined by Jimmy—somehow not dead, now an alcoholic bum—who informs him that one of Akan's associates, Slick Dimitry, has a charging pump which Henry needs to recharge. The two are attacked, and again Jimmy is killed. Henry escapes, and hunts Dimitry through Moscow before capturing him. Just as Dimitry promises him information, he is killed by a sniper. Henry removes the pump and receives a call from Jimmy, who directs Henry to a brothel.

Henry meets two more distinct versions of Jimmy who replace his pump. The brothel is attacked by Akan's forces. Akan taunts Henry about Estelle, who is being transported by an armored convoy, before ejecting Henry from the brothel. Outside, Henry encounters another Jimmy, who transports him to Akan's convoy. Henry finds Estelle—and Akan, who kills him and buries him in the woods.

Jimmy finds and revives Henry, only to be shelled by a tank. After killing the tank crew and fending off a helicopter, Henry finds another Jimmy, who leads him to an abandoned hotel, where Jimmy is headquartered in a hidden laboratory. Here, the original Jimmy—a quadriplegic scientist—reveals that he is seeking revenge against Akan, who crippled him after his own cyborg super-soldiers failed. The other Jimmys are clones that he can control.

Jimmy realizes that Henry has been unknowingly broadcasting his location to Akan, with a strike force closing in, and the clones attack Henry. Fending off Jimmy, Henry convinces him to help. Henry and the clones fight their way out, killing Akan's forces by collapsing the laboratory on them.

Jimmy and Henry drive to Akan's headquarters. They fight their way into an elevator, but Jimmy is mortally wounded. Before dying, Jimmy thanks Henry for being a friend, and removes a memory blocker, gradually restoring Henry's memories. Henry fights his way to the highest floor, where he is greeted by Akan and an army of cyborg super-soldiers with Henry's memories. The soldiers chase Henry to the roof.

Henry wipes out the entire army. Akan arrives and severely wounds Henry. Shortly after, Estelle arrives as well. It is revealed that Estelle was actually Akan's wife. Everything that happened was an elaborate ruse to field-test their ability to manipulate cyborg soldiers into doing anything to "rescue" their "wife".

Akan and Estelle leave in helicopters, leaving Henry for dead. Henry blacks out, but a memory of his father revives him. Henry reaches Akan and he uses his eyeball wire to decapitate him. He jumps onto the helicopter, presenting Akan's head. Estelle screams and shoots Henry, begging to know how he did it all. Henry uses a splatter of blood to write "E.Z.", as he blocks a bullet from hitting him, directing it back towards Estelle, flying right into her chest, causing her to stumble out of the helicopter, hanging on for her life. She begs Henry to look into his heart, and Henry slams the door on her fingers, causing her to scream, as she falls to her death.

• Sergey Valyaev, Andrei Dementiev, Ilya Naishuller and others as Henry
• Sharlto Copley as Jimmy
• Danila Kozlovsky as Akan
• Haley Bennett as Estelle
• Tim Roth as Henry's Father
• Andrei Dementiev as Slick Dmitry
• Cyrus Arnold as Nat (credited as "Young Bully #2")
• Ilya Naishuller as Timothy / Higher-Self Merc
• Will Stewart as Robbie
• Dasha Charusha as Katya Dominatrix
• Svetlana Ustinova as Olga Dominatrix

Henry was originally played by Russian stuntman/camera operator[6] Sergey Valyaev,[7] but the camera rig used in production eventually caused him severe neck pain. The role was given to Andrei Dementiev (who also played Slick Dmitry). Dementiev suffered neck pain as well, in addition to losing a tooth after being accidentally struck by a stuntman.[8] In scenes where Danila Kozlovskiy and Sharlto Copley talked directly to Henry, Valyaev and Dementiev wore shades to prevent the actors from looking at them instead of the camera. In a few scenes, Henry was played by Naishuller himself. Several stuntmen portrayed Henry between scenes—in all, more than ten actors shared the role.[9]

Bodybuilding champion Alexey Karas appeared as a muscular cyborg.[10]

GoPro Hero 3

Hardcore Henry was filmed with GoPro cameras mounted on a specially made mask[7] designed by Sergey Valyaev, deemed the "Adventure Mask",[11] and stabilization systems that used either electronics or magnets, created by the movie's director of photography, Vsevolod Kaptur.[11] Many prototypes of the mask were used to film the movie. Between the electronics and the magnet stabilization systems, Naishuller chose the magnets, as he felt that it resembled natural head movement.[8][12][13] The recordings from the GoPro cameras were edited to cut the hundreds of shots together into one continuous film.[14]

Blender, open-source software, was used for providing most of the visual effects for the film.[15]

The concept for the film came from the "Bad Motherfucker" and "The Stampede" music videos, which Naishuller made with Valyaev for his band, Biting Elbows. These were also shot with a GoPro from the first-person perspective.[13] The movie was partially funded with Indiegogo.[16]

The film premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2015.[17][18] The film became one of the highest-profile at the festival, and led to a bidding war between Lionsgate, Universal, and STX Entertainment. Ultimately, STX acquired worldwide rights to Hardcore, including a wide release commitment, for $10 million, becoming the studio's first festival acquisition.[19] It was retitled Hardcore Henry for its international release.[20] At the festival, the film won the Grolsch People's Choice Midnight Madness Award.[21] The film was released on April 8, 2016, by STX.[22] On July 26, 2016, Hardcore Henry was released on Blu-ray and DVD.[23]

Both writer/director Ilya Naishuller and Sharlto Copley said in an interview to TechRadar that they will be willing to make a sequel. Naishuller said:

I have an outline for a second one. If there's a need and a want for it. Both Sharlto and I would make a second one. It'd be much, much quicker. It may not be three years this time ... it may be two years and six months... People are going to download or pirate it. You'll want an opinion on it, especially if you're a gamer. The question is whether people will turn up to the cinema to watch it.[31]

• Official website
• Hardcore Henry on IMDb 
• Hardcore Henry at Box Office Mojo
• Hardcore Henry at Rotten Tomatoes
• Hardcore Henry at Metacritic
• Hardcore Henry first-person perspective review by Russian film participant - English subtitles.