In the 1960s, the “experimental movie” genre suggested something artsy or weird. One thinks of Andy Warhol’s “Empire,” a black & white film, running 8 hours and 5 minutes, showing the Empire State Building—in slow motion! Audiences did not stretch around the block. How different from Russian director Ilya Naishuller’s  “Hardcore Henry,” an action picture whose trailer drew 13 million views in less than a week.

While “Hardcore Henry” aims for mainstream success—and is anything but artsy—it earns the experimental label for several reasons:

For starters, it was shot entirely using the subjective point of view (POV). This technique lets audience see the world through the eyes of the protagonist. POV is not new. In “Napoleon” (1927) Abel Gance staged a fight scene shows fists coming straight toward the camera. In 1960 Hitchcock used it famously—or infamously—in a “Psycho” sequence:   first we observe Norman Bates looking through a peephole, and then we see what he sees— a woman preparing to take a shower.

Even making an entire POV film has been done before, for example the 1947 thriller “Lady of the Lake.” More recently, found footage films have carried on the tradition, with the camera  serving as a kind of faux protagonist.

But Hardcore Henry takes subjectivity to a higher level by adding action to perception. We don’t just see what Henry sees. We’re with him as he creates mayhem on a motorcycle, blows up things,  and engages in numerous death-defying acts.  And this led to a novel shooting method. According to a New York Times article, the director employed about a dozen stunt performers who, wearing GoPro-fitted helmets, doubled as camera operators.

A final reason to classify Hardcore Henry as experimental: It was funded by a Russian producer and filmed entirely in Russia. For an action thriller in the tradition of Dirty Harry and RoboCop, that’s definitely innovative.