A P.O.V. Movie Is Coming, And It Doesn't Involve Porn Or Video Games

Is there finally a P.O.V action movie coming that will actually be worthwhile? It certainly looks that way. Hardcore, which describes itself as the world’s first action P.O.V film, has been completed, and it's now looking for donations on Indiegogo in order to help it through its final stages and find its way to an audience.

Hardcore comes from the mind of Ilya Naishuller, who last year made the short film Bad Motherfucker. This quickly became a viral sensation and has now been watched over 40 million times. It also generated thousands of positive messages that pleaded for a feature film to be made in the same mould. The result is Hardcore, and its official synopsis makes it sound like a relentless blockbuster that should be able to eclipse its gimmicky style.

"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. 5 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. Oh, did I tell you that your battery is quickly running out?"

It turns out that we have Russian filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov to thank for Hardcore too. The director of the upcoming Ben-Hur remake was hugely impressed by Bad Motherfucker, and after he convinced Ilya Naishuller that he was the only man who could bring a POV film to the big screen, Hardcore was born. Ilya Naishuller also made a great move in casting Elysium and District 9's Sharlto Copley in the lead role as well. Hardcore was shot using Go-Pro cameras and a clip has been released to try and raise an extra $250,000 so that it can remain under the creative control of both Bekmambetov and Naishuller. You can check out the rather enthralling footage below. It will be the best thing that you do all day.

It’s hard not to be impressed with this first glimpse of Hardcore. You can immediately get a sense of Ilya Naishuller’s style, while it also gives the always impressive Sharlto Copley the chance to adopt an English accent while he effortlessly glides around as a soldier. Maybe it’s a tad gory and some of the action scenes seem a little bit stale - especially when Henry is able to dispatch three soldiers with ease after jumping on them - but the choreography of the myriad of dying stuntmen was for the most part perfect. Hopefully the aforementioned plot will also help to maintain audiences’ attention, as I can’t help but be a little bit worried that the P.O.V. shooting style will eventually become tiresome. Despite these concerns, I’m still excited for Hardcore. It’s still over $200,000 shy of its total, though. So those of you who want to assist it to completion should check their piggy banks and sofas for any amount that can help get them there.

Gregory Wakeman