Hardcore Henry

A movie made by gamers, for gamers, Hardcore Henry seems to forget that the most fundamentally appealing aspect of video games is playing them yourself, rather than watching others do it.

In fairness, the craftsmen behind this ambitious action spectacle do a fine job of replicating the video game experience in cinematic terms — think “Call of Duty,” first and foremost — shooting the entire story from a first-person perspective through plenty of elaborate chase scenes and ultraviolent showdowns with villainous henchmen.

It’s an immersive and almost disorienting visual experience. But alas, the theater chairs don’t come equipped with controllers, causing the novelty of the concept to wear off well before you get to “game over.”

The film opens with Henry’s wife (Haley Bennett) reviving him and then being kidnapped. He’s not sure of his identity or why people are chasing him, or how to get her back. As a small army of hitmen and mercenaries chase him, Henry’s only ally is an elusive British agent (Sharlto Copley) as he tries to stay alive long enough to get some answers.

Rookie director Ilya Naishuller offers up an intense thrill ride filled with brutal violence that’s not for the squeamish or those prone to motion sickness. The body count is extraordinary, and most of the budget seems to have been spent on bulk purchases of weaponry, explosives, and fake blood.

The film has style and attitude to spare (along with a pulsating techno score), even if it too often feels like an experience in sensory overload. There’s not much character or plot depth, but that’s not really the point.

Eventually, however, Hardcore Henry can’t sustain itself on visual gimmickry alone. There needs to be some level of emotional investment in the character, except we can’t see or hear Henry, and don’t know much about him. He’s resourceful and resilient and really good at killing people.

So what’s left is a cartoonish parade of fight sequences, each one including creative death scenes involving random bad guys. There’s also an eye-popping if incoherent finale set on the roof of a skyscraper.

Tip your cap to the cameramen, who doubled as stuntmen in the title role forced to navigate BASE jumps and parkour. Yet while it’s quite a technical achievement in the GoPro age, the film’s spectacle trumps the substance.

Rated R, 95 minutes.