First Hit: Gave me the sense of either being in a video game or playing a video game.
Being my age, I was around when the first widely available user games (Pong and Space Invaders) were created.
I’ve watched others, including my grandson, play games for short periods of time and I can see why people get engaged. It’s a fast responsive experience and there are many levels to each game. The player has to remember where they are and where they are going, what weapons they have available and what will kill them.
From my uneducated and inexperienced view, most of today’s games are mostly involve killing an enemy regardless if they are human, alien, or monsters of some sort. Additionally, they have a full array of weapons. However, what is missing when I watch the players and their avatars, are consequences, consequences for their actions.
In the non-reality of a video game, consequences, such as death are not felt or experienced by the players. Just game over only to begin again. It is not real. This film, shot in the first person, we are the players avatar. From the get go the audience goes for a wild ride.
As first person, we get to do surgery on our self to change power-packs, kill nearly a hundred people, and leap tall buildings in a single bound. Along the way, we get to grab new weapons, have brief exchanges with others but move on with our task.
This character, Henry, was full of action, kill mindlessly, and do all sorts of engaging superhuman things; all without a concrete purpose that can be felt.
Although there are actors, it was difficult for me to identify individual performances because each segment or scene with the actors is too brief and very chaotic. Ilya Naishuller and Will Stewart wrote this intense, all action, script. Naishuller also directed his script and, in the end, I’m not sure it was something I’d want to experience again.
Overall: This film was intense and full throttle “in your face” action with no real point.