Slant Magazine April 3, 2016 Our aesthetic perception is linked to our perception of Henry himself, so that the film becomes a study of empathy through aesthetics.
Detroit News April 8, 2016 Hardcore Henry doesn’t just get under your skin, it gets behind your eyeballs and uses your head as its own cockpit. For hardcore thrills, He...
Hardcore isn’t a perfect movie by any means, but it is a rip-roaring 90 minutes of firepower, action and carnage, and an unpre...
New York Post April 7, 2016 For the first time ever, a movie has actually done it. "Hardcore Henry" has precisely replicated the experience of watching someone else play...
You could go see "Hardcore Henry" – or you could gulp down a pint of vodka, load in "Grand Theft Auto," then strap the TV to your fa...
The story exists mainly to provide reason and shape for the frenzy of carnage: constant, numbing, and in the film’s view at least, occasional...
[Naishuller’s] debut feature is a landmark of sorts, and a potent omen in this year of mass-marketed virtual reality.
Hardcore Henry surpasses its base gimmick to become one of the most inventive and stylish action films in recent memory.
A mostly dreadful piece of would-be #viral #content disguised as an action film.
Empire Magazine April 14, 2016 Light on plot, high on braindead action, it turns out there’s a reason hardly any films are shot in first-person view – it’s just...
Boston Globe April 7, 2016 When the action is at its sharpest, such as with Henry’s mid-chase leap from a detonating truck onto the back of a motorcycle, it&rsquo...
The Guardian September 18, 2015 For folks who are too lazy to play their own video games, there’s the movie Hardcore.
It is pummeling. It is punishing. It is nauseating and headache-inducing.
New Yorker April 18, 2016 This first-person-shooter extravaganza has little purpose besides showing what happens when a GoPro is strapped to a series of stuntmen as the...
The Daily Beast March 18, 2016 If you’re ready to subject yourself to the most balls-out, bonkers action ride of the year, then you are precisely the maniac for whom the fl...
Paste Magazine April 7, 2016 The most unabashedly videogame-ish movie in cinematic history, Hardcore Henry is a bold act of mimicry, a gimmicky stunt and a faithful a...
Too stuck in the swamp of empty machismo to be anything more than the feature equivalent of a soar-and-crash overdose.
Rolling Stone April 7, 2016 It’s all about the ride, the relentless wallop and whoosh. But, hey, sometimes that’s all a cine-junkie needs for a fix.
Globe and Mail April 8, 2016 Is it much of a movie? Not really. It’s more of an experience – a passive sort of virtual reality – that uses a bare-bones narrativ...
A great movie fools you into thinking it’s really happening. By trying to make us a part of the film itself, Hardcore Henry just keeps r...
If one can accept the story’s video-game logic and cope with the kinetosis, "Hardcore" is often exhilaratingly extreme.
While its audacity is laudable, the film ultimately has all the thrill of watching someone else play a first-person-shooter video game.
Hardcore Henry never aspires to rise above its one gimmick.
RogerEbert.com April 7, 2016 "Hardcore Henry" is like a good roller-coaster in that it does not require a complex reason to be: it’s there, it’s fun, you...
I’m sure a lot of people will call Hardcore Henry "innovative" and "groundbreaking." And maybe it is. But it also feels more like a cool gimm...
A dim beacon in the darkening night of action features, signaling a path to plot-free oblivion.
Hollywood Reporter February 25, 2016 Billed as the first-ever action movie filmed entirely from the hero’s first-person viewpoint, Hardcore blasts along like a supercharged...
Toronto Sun April 7, 2016 The relentless action flick Hardcore Henry is totally nuts and a lot of fun for freaks.
Toronto Star April 7, 2016 First-person POV quickly gets old as the bodies stack and the story loses steam.
Hardcore Henry is nauseating, twice over.
The major downside of Ilya Naishuller’s debut feature is that while it looks like a video game, it also apes the worst qualities of the...
There are times when Hardcore Henry feels like the beginning of a brand new genre of action movie. Though to be fair, I won’t blame you...
New York Times April 7, 2016 Its dour eccentricity gives Hardcore Henry a potency above and beyond that of standard-issue show-off action fare. That doesn’t mean it...
For about 90 seconds, the novel first-person-shooter point of view hits our bodies with an unexpected flood of adrenaline, in a hear...
Variety September 20, 2015 Only the tiniest, most basic elements of character, backstory and even narrative are offered on the run in a movie whose 95% frantic-action co...
