First Person Shooter or FPS is not for everyone. Not because of the genre, but Point of View (POV) can sometime induce dizziness and even cause a person to throw up. So if you belong to that group, then Hardcore is probably not for you, but for everyone else who loves a little bit of first person sci-fi action, then look forward to the aforementioned flick coming to your way in 2015. Billed as the first ever action POV feature film, Hardcore is a sci-fi adventure movie starring South Africa producer, actor and director Sharito Copley (most notable for his role in Neil Blomkamp’s District 9) and created by BitingElbows‘s Ilya Naishuller who’ve made quite a sensation with his POV short film/music video Bad Motherf*#ker (clearly, NSFW. You’ve been warned) on YouTube.
Encouraged by the response of the first short, Naishuller set forth to create a feature length movie and a year and half later, it was shot and edited. The flick is shot in its entirety in POV and almost exclusively with GoPro using a custom designed camera rig to create a “very natural and intensely personal experience.” So what’s the story about? Well, Hardcore is set in the year 2015 and tells the story about our hero, Henry (played by a stuntman, we were told) who have been brought back to life by his wife, Estelle (played by Haley Bennet) as cyborg, but the real story only kicks in when his lovely wife got abducted by a psychotic villain with apparent telekinetic powers (played by Danila Kozlovsky) who seems to have an endless supply of mercenaries aiding his sick designs. Lucky for Henry, Jimmy (played by Sharito Copley) is here to aid in his quest. Interestingly, the whole feature happens in the course of one day and was shot in Moscow, Russia.
Looking at the teaser, it kind of reminds me of a first person Parkour-focused action game Mirror’s Edge which, to be honest, did almost induced nausea in me and so, it might affect those who are susceptible to motion sickness (which I am not, btw). However, according to Hardcore‘s creator, care have been taken to stabilize the video rigs as far as possible and while the teaser looks to be a little on the frantic side, that only happen at the second half of the 105-minute long movie. It promise that audience will be ease into the POV style, before things get a little, you know, too action-filled. But before all that can happen, Hardcore needs your help to take it to the final stage of the production and hence, the current Indiegogo campaign. There are a lot of perks available, among them includes a signed copy of the movie on Blu-ray, a digital copy of the movie, movie poster, USB flash drive (appropriately, in a handgun shape), custom GoPro mask rig and more. Pledge starts at 10 bucks and runs up to as high as $2,500.
