*
Directed by Chee Keong Cheung.
Starring John Hannah, Radha Mitchell, Tamer Hassan.
Action , UK, 111 Minutes, Certificate 15.
Released in Cinemas in the UK on 30th October by Action Xtreme.
Ever wondered what a film shot entirely from the main characters POV would be like? That would be crazy! Especially if it was an action film! Wow! What year is this again? 2005?
Oh, wait. It’s 2026 and it has already happened. HARDCORE HENRY did it over a decade ago, proving that what can make for an enervating action sequence becomes quickly tiring when stretched out to feature length. It is a format that seems better suited to horror as Franck Khalfoun proved with his excellent remake of MANIAC, literally putting the viewer in the killer’s head, making the viewer question the spectacle of horror movie violence, as well as telling an engaging story with engaging characters. Enter director Chee Keong Cheung, and actor John Hannah, who gets a Story By credit as well as taking on the unlikely role of action here. With advances in camera technology, can this unlikely duo breathe life into a filmmaking format that has so far yet to prove itself in this particular genre?
Sadly the answer is very much in the negative here. Deja vu sets in in a number of ways from the very beginning with our hero Karl (Hannah) waking up in a hotel room with no memory of how he received the large scar on his chest or who the dead body in the bathroom is. With the aid of pills that require him to keep his heart rate down, Karl soon realises that a large number of people in the London underworld want him dead. Why this is happening is the mystery that drives the “plot” along two hours as we cut frantically between Karl’s POV and hotel maid Molly (Radha Mitchell) who helps him dodge all manner of professional hitmen and women as Karl begins to uncover the truth not only in why this is happening but to the truth of who Karl is himself.
Reminded of CRANK yet? If the story beats summarised above don’t put you in mind of one of Jason Statham’s finest hours then the reheated visual style most certainly will. Coupled with an “edgy” sense of humour and “outrageous” characters this comes across like some straight to DVD rip off that you would find on the supermarket shelf along with Danny Dyer’s latest Cockney gangster extravaganza back in the day. The early 2000’s vibe continues with Cheung’s insistence on constantly plastering pink neon captions across the screen that sometimes comment on the action or just repeat lines of dialogue, milliseconds after they have been uttered in poorly delivered style by performers who are usually quite good at acting.
For all its faults at least HARDCORE HENRY had action sequences that were impressive in terms of choreography and travelling across various locations. This, in all of its oversaturated colours, and frantic camerawork that is continuously over edited to the point of incomprehensibility makes this nothing more than one of the most visually unappealing films in quite some time. The result is like watching someone else playing the most annoying video game ever while suffering from a serious case of cataracts.
Hannah, who must be looking forward to that MUMMY sequel next year more than anyone else now, delivers the worst performance of his career. Mostly relegated to delivering dialogue that mostly consists of terrible one-liners, he can only be consoled that Radha Mitchell is just as bad, miscast in the role of a hotel maid who gets swept up in this mix of dated gangster flick and an action flick that is poorly conceived on every single level. Look away.
Iain MacLeod