Hardcore Henry, formerly released under the title Hardcore, has made some waves in entertainment news because of its novel camerawork. If you have been watching Youtube videos lately, you would know that it was just a matter of time before someone strapped a GoPro on and filmed an action movie. And what better person to do just that than Russian film director/musician Ilya Naishuller who’s band Biting Elbows released several music videos directed by Naishuller in the same style.

Hardcore Henry starts with the protagonist Henry waking up in a strange laboratory. He has obviously been reconstructed into some type of cyborg, though it is unclear. He is greeted by a scientist (Haley Bennett) who says she is his wife and that he does not remember anything because of the operation. Almost immediately after waking up, the laboratory is attacked by a strange, telekinetic Russian man named Akan (Danila Kozlovsky). Henry escapes from the laboratory only to find himself embroiled in a chase through Russia where he teams up with a man named Jimmy (Sharlto Copely).

The first thing to say about this film is that the action is gruesome and brutal. The first-person viewpoint brings all of the gore a little bit closer to your face than a normal movie and Naishuller seems to have a talent for coming up with increasingly creative and brutal ways to kill people. Much like a video game, Henry interacts with the environment in creative ways and several of the character’s deaths are incredibly memorable.

While many critics have already pointed out the relatively shallow plotline, I thought that this was less of a problem. Like the videos that Biting Elbows released, Naishuller is less interested in explaining to the audience the how and the why of the main character and is instead focused on showing Henry getting involved in several ridiculous and violent situations. This may also boil down to a fundamental difference in Russian and American film making, where American film makers are more concerned with explaining everything to the audience, while Russian film makers tend to deprioritize that.

That’s not to say that the movie could not have done better with its plot. Kozlovsky was an obvious casting choice as the Russian villain (since he is one of the few Russian actors who has done both American and Russian movies), but his dialogue was so ridiculous that it was not really even that funny and I feel like they really missed an opportunity to better utilize him. In general, the dialogue was bizarre and will likely be endearing to those who watch this film multiple times. In my mind, this movie has everything that is needed to be a cult classic: novel approach, cheesy dialogue, and easy watchability.

This is not going to be the last GoPro-filmed movie, so if you want to see the beginning of this new era and are not squeamish about violence, Hardcore Henry is a pretty fun ride.