If Hardcore the movie is 10 percent as entertaining as Hardcore the trailer, it just might be the most-fun movie we’ve ever seen. Seriously: watch this. It’s a literally dizzying experience, courtesy of hotshot Russian director Ilya Naishuller and quasi-star Sharlto Copley, best known as the man-meets-alien from Neill Blomkamp’s District 9.
The movie premieres this week at the Toronto International Film Festival after a successful crowdfunding campaign that followed from Naishuller’s similary shot music video for Biting Elbows’ single “Bad Motherf***er.”
Copley is only sort of the leading man — since the entire film is told from the audience’s POV. (Contrary to what some outlets are reporting, it is not the first movie to be shot in this style: 1947 film noir Lady in the Lake lays claim to that honor.)
In Hardcore, Copley’s hero is on a tear from Moscow to the city’s outlying forest to save his wife; Copley also plays a variety of supporting characters, a la Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove.
The movie is emphatically inspired by the first-person-shooter games that preceded it — and it’s notably shot, almost entirely, on body-mounted GoPros. The overall effect, as Copley told the Hollywood Reporter, is a rollercoaster ride. We believe him.
If you’re curious about Naishuller, don’t miss this archived Reddit AMA, which includes such nuggets as “The best porn is the one that works right now.”
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