It's a question that will definitely be discussed in class, and it's something that's easy to understand. For visual arts, the camera position originally represents the human eye, and dropping the angle of observation of events from the third person to the first person is equivalent to changing the identity of the audience from an observer to a participant. Generally speaking, the biggest advantage of the first person is that it can greatly enhance the sense of substitution and bring visual impact that the third person cannot achieve. And this kind of impact is most suitable for action and shooting types (other forms that do not require a protagonist image are not excluded): Want to feel the jumping between buildings and the street parkour? check;Want to see the explosion flame smear your face? check; Want to experience Chu Chu flying into the enemy's body? check.
Humans' pursuit of first-person excitement has never stopped. The VR technology that has been copied in recent times is a typical representative. From this, our observation of the virtual world has really gained the initiative: although the narrative of the story is still dead as hell in nature, at least we can choose where to watch.
First-person has become an important category in current video games, and similar applications can be seen in film and television works. But feature films like "Hardcore Wars" that are entirely first-person creations are very rare. And it turns out that there is a reason why this narrative angle is not popular and not optimistic: "Hardcore Henry" really proves how attractive and potential the first-person perspective is, after all, young audiences today are used to watching on live broadcast platforms. Others play games instead of "sit up and move by themselves"; but at the same time, in the 90 minutes, many disadvantages and deficiencies have also been exposed.
Of course, for a cult movie like this, it's not a problem at all to have flaws, as long as the highlights are bright enough.
Beginning with an earlier short film by director Ilya Naishuler, Hardcore Henry was given the opportunity to expand into a feature film due to its acclaim. Due to the blessing of the Russian director Timo Bekmanbetov in terms of supervision, the director is more arrogant in narrative style and camera language, and it seems to be as cool as the former "Wanted Order". The sequel will give up resentfully, and the ambition is fully revealed. The subjective perspective brings great convenience to this unique sci-fi/violent story setting, and Sharlto Copley, who is "killed, can't die", was born a B-movie more suitable than Tim Roth. Rough face, there is no disobedience here.
The biggest attraction of "Hardcore Henry" lies in the propulsive and immersive visual effects, allowing the audience to follow and become the three-no-man on the screen, escape from the enemy time and time again, in a towering building Shuttle between things, and use all kinds of blood-splattered cruel methods to kill these bad guys. The point of view of the film makes these violent scenes more present, but after a period of time, there will be some inevitable problems. But before talking about these issues, I have to applaud Elijah Naishuler and his action team. The stunts in this film are quite original, and it is a huge challenge for stuntmen and directors. How to use Getting the best footage from a GoPro is a budget-conscious thing. With a relatively small budget (about $10 million), it achieved a crazy effect that many high-cost blockbusters could not make. In terms of movements, it can be said that the violence of the cult series has always been consistent - it is normal to stay here, all kinds of headshots and limbs, broken in two, gouging eyes and cutting heads, all kinds of ruthless bloody conflicts, and even getting shot in the face with blood repeatedly. . Hardcore Henry, the live-action first-person shooter, is the perfect porn for viewers who crave non-stop action.
However, just like many people will be stunned by 3D when they see first-person games, "Hardcore Henry" is destined to be only hardcore, and it is difficult to gain the favor of more people.
The reason why first-person games can be dizzy in 3D is that many situations occur in the absence of interaction. If the user is in control of the character's actions and viewing directions, it won't cause much problem. In "Hardcore Henry", the first-person perspective lasts too long, and even rare techniques begin to lose their freshness, making it difficult for the audience to maintain enough patience. Trapped in the first-person perspective is like a claustrophobic space, especially when When the story is as thin as paper.
In fact, the first-person view also has considerable restrictions on action scenes. The new ideas are there, but it seriously affects its expressiveness. First and foremost is the choreography of hand-to-hand combat, often just flashes and a lot of blurry footage, especially in the first half of the film. Rather than enhancing the sense of substitution, it is better to block the display space for excellent motion design. As for the chase scene, it doesn't seem like you can do it without adding a lot of first-person bobbing up and down - the consequence is that the audience is completely unable to focus on any object on the screen. More subtly, a lot of fisheye lenses are used in the film, which is not exactly part of a normal human visual experience, causing the picture to distort. When this distortion builds up, you get dizzy.
However, from the perspective of a movie, the worst aspect of "Hardcore Henry" is this "fun" story that is too embarrassing to take out in the game, not even a story, just a It's just a collection of incidents. Combined with the first-person perspective, the movie looks like a video game, and one that you can't play yourself. The opening of the film is almost like the opening introduction of a video game, explaining the background of the story and the main villain BOSS. After that, there are a series of levels and checkpoints, learn combat skills from allies, get weapon upgrades, and defeat the miscellaneous BOSS. And in this game, all the NPCs are the same Jimmy, sending you tasks and props, and even a protection task to protect the real Jimmy from being killed. And the scene where a few miscellaneous soldiers are suddenly killed is almost waiting for you to press QTE.
As for the final plot twist of the movie, it's not too new. It would be perfect if the movie could have a companion game (in fact, it has already launched a partnership with the first-person shooter "Pay Day 2").
In fact, if you compare it with a 3A-level game like "Call of Duty", it is not difficult to see that the structure of "Hardcore Henry" can actually be done better, but unfortunately the movie does not provide a story or character worthy of attention. There's a reason the protagonist is dumb—he's not alone, but just a cheat code on an indestructible killing machine. Therefore, his behavior lacks a big goal and direction, and only runs, kills and saves the girl. And the heroine of the vase, played by Haley Bennett, is completely unconvincing, so empty that only a pretty face remains. The same is true for the villain, Daniela Kozlovsky. The characters are superficial, and only appearance and special abilities can leave an impression. There is a serious lack of personality charm. Only a single threat threatens and threatens again, which makes the final battle of the movie. Only a very limited amount of pleasure can be obtained.
As for a lot of inexplicable and unsolvable honey logic in the movie, let it continue to be a mystery. "Hardcore Henry" is worth nothing more than a 90-minute viral video.
In short, "Hardcore Henry" provides a steady stream of adrenaline to the right audience, almost like a first-person "Rage" series, but a little too focused on the immersive visual experience, and makes the story vulnerable. To be fair, "Hardcore Henry" is hardly even a movie, and almost no character can establish an emotional connection in a way other than action scenes, and the whole process is just teasing and imitation of the game.
Action movie masterpieces in recent years, such as Raid 1 & 2, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Edge of Tomorrow, all offer enough visual stimuli without being forced to pass the protagonist's eyeballs. come out. Action movies aren't just about getting the audience to fight and tear themselves, it's about building a believable playground. It is more important to understand this than to rush out a new one.
In this sense, "Hardcore Henry" is more like a hardcore pornographic film in the field of action movies. Occasionally look at it, fresh is fresh, but it is not easy to use. If you have seen it, it is really just seen.
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