It was only a matter of time before someone took the raging gaming phenomenon that is the first-person shooter and converted it into a movie format. I mean, think about it, the visceral thrills and excitement that we derive from seeing our right forearm wielding a Glock and the feeling of immersion, like we are actually inside the game and battling rouge nations ourselves, is why first-person shooters are so much popular than third-person ones, like say, Splinter Cell and Assassin’s Creed.
Writer/director/punk rocker Ilya Naishuller, whose short film Bad Motherf****r (embedded at the bottom of this story) caught the eye of Timur Bekmambetov and landed him a deal to make a movie. Hardcore is the result, and its first trailer is here fresh from the Toronto Film Festival’s Midnight Madness event.
Here’s what the official synopsis has to say:
[x_blockquote type=”left”]You remember nothing. Mainly because you’ve just been brought back from the dead by your wife. She tells you that your name is Henry and congratulations, you’re now a cyborg.
Five minutes later, your wife has been kidnapped and you should probably go get her back. Who’s got her? His name’s Akan (Danila Kozlovsky), he’s just a psychotic megalomaniac with telekinetic powers, and a never-ending army of mercenaries. You’re also in an unfamiliar city of Moscow, Russia and everyone wants you dead. Everyone, except for a mysterious, British fellow called Jimmy (Sharlto Copley). He might be on your side. Good luck Henry. You’re very much likely to need it.[/x_blockquote]Sharlto Copley (District 9) seems to be playing multiple characters, but what’s interesting is that unlike a movie such as Cloverfield, the main character is in a way made to be the viewer. In the synopsis, the main character is billed as “you,” putting you right in the action (though the character’s name is Henry, as said in the trailer). But other actors include Danila Kozlovsky and Haley Bennett as your dead wife, who is suddenly alive in front of your eyes and has just brought you back to life.
Hardcore is playing at TIFF this weekend, but there’s no word on when we might see the film hit theaters in the United States, so you’ll just have to wait patiently until we get any release information. The makers are currently trying to crowd-fund its post-production over at Indiegogo. You may contribute here.
Put Call of Duty and the sterling Indonesian Gareth Evans silat movie The Raid in a blender with lots of bombs and you’ll get something like this.
