Every action film is based on some desire for self-fulfillment. When we go to the cinema to see James Bond or Iron Man save the world in a globetrotting adventure, part of us wants to be in their shoes. We feel the adrenaline pump through their veins, brace ourselves for their falls, and sit at the edge of our seat when all seems lost. So why not remove the middleman and cast the audience itself as the hero? Hardcore Henry is the willing subject of this experiment, and the result is a spectacular failure.

Shot entirely in first person through the use of mobile GoPro cameras, Henry tells the tale of a mute amnesiac cyborg on a quest to rescue his wife. His foe is the dastardly Akon, a villainous Russian hellbent on building an army of super-soldiers. The story is little more than a framing device to get Henry from one action sequence to the next, occasionally interrupted by a trip to a brothel. The entire experience plays like a 13-year old boy’s violently erotic daydream.

For the most part, the action is hard to follow. If you’ve ever complained about “shaky-cam” in post-Bourne action cinema, Hardcore Henry is your nightmare committed to film. Every punch, roll, and kick is accurately represented in first person to create a hodgepodge of whirling blood and flesh. The low resolution of the GoPro cameras and relative low budget CG effects only highlight the janky nature of it all. Basic visual appeal like “cinematography” and “shot framing” have gone out the window with this filming style, and little is done to compensate.

Fortunately, one actor stands out in the shallow talent pool. Sharlto Copley (District 9, The A-Team, Elysium) has quickly emerged as one of his generation’s most versatile character actors, and Hardcore Henry takes full advantage. As the mysterious Jimmy, Sharlto appears as everything from a disgruntled cop to a coke fiend to a WW2 general. Each character is more delightfully outlandish than the last. Do any of them play a vital role to the plot? Not in the slightest. But Copley gives the film a human face sorely needed in a narrative shot from the hero’s perspective.

Hardcore Henry is a rollercoaster ride, but not one at Universal Studios or Disney World; no, this the coaster that comes to town at the yearly carnival, held together by haphazard welding and copious duct tape. There’s no doubt Hardcore Henry is a bad film. Yet it is one whose existence is not unwelcome – a fascinating novelty, only worth the time for those with a burning curiosity.

Follow Chris Berg on Twitter, @ChrisBerg25