Did Henry already have those parkour and combat skills before becoming a cyborg, or were they programmed into him? Maybe that's why he was selected to undergo the transformation and be the vessel for the future soldiers to acquire their knowledge.
Could be both. Henry might've had some combat training and did some parkour but didn't have it on a superhuman level until after he was made a cyborg
No Kill like Overkill, perhaps
What's up with all of the brutal damage done to the unnamed body during the opening credits? The lab tech in the beginning says that it was all inflicted onto Henry, but he most likely wasn't involved in Akan's plot considering the pummeling he received shortly thereafter, so if all that harm done to Henry was real, what the hell happened to him to deserve that kind of beating? Did it even happen at all, or was it just made up to sell Henry the story, or was it just a cool visual to set up the film?
The opening credits isn't related to what happens in the film. It's just a general montage of bloody injuries; if anything, it's previewing the gore and violence that will happen throughout the movie.
Where did those assassins go?
What was the point of the two dominatrix assassins? I understand they also had a bone to pick with Akan, but after the brothel scene, they just disappear and are never mentioned again.
I'm pretty sure they both had their fates shown on screen. They are with Henry and Jimmy when they catch up with Akan on the highway. Henry catches a ride on the back of one of their motorcycles, but she goes down (Explodes, maybe? It helps Henry jump) right as they get to Akan's lab vehicle. I thought that the other one was the girl with Henry and Jimmy out in the woods, who gets killed by shrapnel when Hippy!Jimmy gets hit with the tank shell, but I *might* be wrong on that one.
Pretty sure that wasn't the same girl with Hippie!Jimmy. Her clothing and attitude were completely different from only minutes before. The only hint that it might be her is the katana Henry ends up with.
Maybe she got really high with Hippie!Jimmy and as a result she was really mellow.
She does kill the last merc trying to bury Henry, much to Hippie!Jimmy's dismay, which would be in character for the dominatrix, if it's her. Especially if she's still angry about them maybe killing her best friend.
It's the same actress, so it's presumably the same character. We don't have any indication of how much time passed between Henry getting knocked out and him getting rescued, so it isn't too much of a stretch to say she had time to change clothes.
I took it to mean that they're associates of Jimmy's, but that they're not really connected to him beyond that. They pretty clearly have their own gig going.
Weren't they the ones who were in the elevator in the PAYDAY 2 short film advertising the tie-in content with the film, who killed the mooks with Dallas and direct him to the room where Jimmy was waiting for him? If so, that means that they appear to have an on-going arrangement with Jimmy in addition to running their business that's been going on before the events of the film.
One of the subtitles shown just before they become too fast/jumbled to read is something to the effect of, "All our girls got killed!", implying they were owners, managers, or security from the brothel.
The Barbed wire
Also, how does Henry wrapping barbed wire around his hand suddenly get him close enough to attack Akan when every other time, Akan is able to push him away with his telekinetic powers?
I don't know how/if it helped him get close, but it did help by breaking Akan's focus when Henry got his hands on him - The pain of the barbed wire digging into him gave Henry a bigger window in which to act.
Akan through the entire movie is depicted as always being one step ahead of Henry- seeing as everything had been setup and he always has had a personal live feed of Henry's vision. He can always predict Henry's actions and time his mentally draining psychic powers accordingly, but is in trouble if he can't see danger coming in time to react, as while he is psychic, he's not a bullet-time cyborg like Henry. He thought Henry was dead or completely destroyed, and due to letting Henry kill everyone who wasn't Estelle or his helicopter pilot, there was no one to tell him otherwise, so Henry getting back up in a rage with a new unexpected attack caught him off guard and he couldn't react in time. And once hurt, he couldn't focus past the incredible pain, allowing Henry to kill him. In some ways, it's riff on Plot Armor combined with a bit of Reality Ensues, once the "scripted" battles were over, he was just as vulnerable as everybody else.
It's also literally the first time in the entire film that Henry attempts to attack Akan from behind. Every other attempt to attack him was something blatantly obvious that he saw coming a mile away, but just because he has telekinesis powers doesn't mean they'll automatically protect him from a completely unexpected threat.
Akan is bleeding from the mouth a bit before Henry even gets his hands on the jerk, possibly indicating a limit to or cost of his powers. He's also previously shown bleeding after straining himself from overuse of his powers.
Back to the original headscratcher topic: it may be that the reason why Henry wraps his hand with barbed wire is to give himself an adrenaline boost. We saw what he could do on an adrenaline overload, but it clearly wore off. One of the aspects of adrenaline is that it increases the mental concentration of an individual, thereby potentially distracting them from the sensation of pain. So, maybe, by wrapping his hand with the barb wire, it is actually helping him focus on his newly set task of finishing off Akan, just as much making his hand into an additional weapon.
Except it's the hand with metal knuckles that he wraps in the wire. Presumably, even if his robotic arm can feel pain, it's probably not equipped to register pain more intense than what every inch of Henry's still-organic body must already be howling with, by the movie's climax.
Why was she kidnapped?
What's the purpose of "kidnapping" Estelle? To test Henry's loyalty? And why did Akan kill that scientist then?
Akan specifically spells out that the kidnapping was to act as motivation for Henry and by proxy, the rest of the cyborg super soldiers to fight. Killing the other scientists was to further the act that he was the main villain. Plus the scientists he killed were only ones that specialized in making voices. Why would Akan care about giving his expendable soldiers voices?
Then Akan's an idiot to begin with. The memories of Estelle's kidnapping are inextricably linked to Akan being the kidnapper. He's building an army of super cyborgs who are emotionally motivated to seek out and destroy him. Specifically him. The whole point of making the super prototype is to stage events to create memories because their technology can only block pre-existing memories, they can't fabricate new ones.
Except he's shown that he can modify the soldiers' memories, such as how when Estelle "wakes" them up, she always uses their own personal names substituted in for Henry's. With the power to control what memories the cyborgs retain, Akan can effectively manipulate them in to believing anybody kidnapped Estelle.
He can't, though. He has to install a memory blocker into Henry, but a) it doesn't work completely, since Henry gets flashbacks of his own real life and it's only meant to block those, and b) that's what I mean by inextricably. If Akan were capable of truly creating or editing memory on that level, he wouldn't need the stage show to begin with. He needs real, genuine memories and for someone to buy into the lie, that's the point. Every scene that involves Estelle being abducted or captured or abused has Akan in it, doing the kidnapping, giving him the sadistic choices, making himself the focus of the motivational drama (which is also why, despite having different names, they all still have the same wife). The footage with the individual names isn't made from Henry's memories, it's from all the failed attempts before him. At best, it only means that the cyborgs' motivation will be "find the mystery man who has my wife", and that's still Akan at the end of the day.
Hell, for all we know Akan was planning to change his own appearance and name, then pose as an ally of the cyborgs who helps them rescue Estelle "from Akan" in the end. Essentially, he could've cast himself in Jimmy's role if Jimmy hadn't beaten him to it.
You are mistaken, my friend. First, Henry is the Super Prototype, he is the first of his kind, it is explicitly stated in the movie. Those memories of Estelle activating the cyborgs are custom made to each, because 1) Estelle couldn't have been there to the waking up of the army as she was playing victim for a good chunk of plot and 2) They were all made after Henry experienced his waking. The purpose of the whole act is not just to stage the kidnapping and motivate the cyborgs, they are recording Henry's fighting experience to make the army more effective killers. So yes, Akan can implant whatever he wants on the Cyborgs once he blocks his real memories. Those Cyborgs probably saw Henry himself kidnapping Estelle.
No. Henry is the Super Prototype, but he's not the first, he's only the first success. Estelle said as much, and the footage of the different names from tests before Henry, because there wouldn't be any point (or possibility) in making new footage tailored to other cyborgs while the usable memories from Henry are still in progress. And your logic is messed up anyway, because those memories are coming from Henry, the one thing those memories couldn't possibly contain is a third-person view of Henry kidnapping Estelle. If it were possible for Akan to just fabricate memories from scratch, none of the movie would be necessary.
Yep first success, so first as far as it actually matters in terms of Super Prototype. Akan is modifying existing memories not writing all new ones, as far as we're shown he can't write all new ones but can adjust the existing ones. It could totally be Henry, or an image there of, kidnapping Estelle pasted in where Akan should be or any world leader he wants to overthrow.
The entire plot seems to be one big "proof of concept" for Akan; the concept, in this case, being "pussy is a hell of a motivator". If the other cyborgs had actually succeeded in killing Henry, that would've been fine for him; he could've just played the remainder against each other or disposed of them some other way. Once he knew his plan would work, he could just cast himself as an ally and the president of some country as the "bad guy", as said above, when creating memories for future cyborgs.
Henry's free will
How come Henry became the (as far as we know) only one of Akan's cyber-soldiers to turn against him?
Since Henry is apparently the first successful cyborg, he's most likely a Super Prototype. There is also the point where he takes down a great deal of the enemy cyborgs with stolen guns and explosives, and then dopes himself with adrenaline in the second half of the fight. Plus, it could be argued that since Henry himself actually experienced the memories rather than have them downloaded directly into his mind, he had much more Heroic Resolve and emotional motivation than they did.
It's implied that he's not. Fridge Brilliance, this. He's just the only one who actually got anywhere with it. Estelle says she knew for sure that it worked because Henry brought her with him in the escape pod built for one; that scene is actually a Secret Test of Character designed to confirm that the subject completely bought into the lie and was emotionally invested in his "wife". The ones that don't pass the test? They got into the escape pod alone and didn't know how to open the parachute. The reason Henry is the only one to rebel is that he's the only one that didn't impact a parking lot at terminal velocity and scatter himself like a toaster full of meat.
Except there's only two handles in the escape pod, one to seal the door and one to release the chute. And alarms sound automatically as soon as it gets close enough to need the parachute deployed. Even if the other cyborgs are a bunch of morons, at least half of them are going to yank the right handle by pure luck when the bells and whistles start going off.
Two possible reasons: First off Henry, is the first real success, the one who isn't brain dead, insane, or otherwise defective. Second off, his memory suppressor however is defective, he gets flashes of the past and who he really is that Akan isn't aware of. Akan is only recording what happens in his mechanical eyes after all. Henry has something more powerful than the others, something real that he can question or follow.
That, and he seems to be the first one that the Jimmys heard tell of and successfully made contact with. Hence, things like Akan tapping the feed from Henry's eyes coming as a surprise to Jimmy.
Fridge Brilliance: Maybe previous failed Henrys are what made all those dead bodies with their left legs missing that are seen near the beginning. Akan didn't pinch them from a morgue or whatever, they're Akan's own men that the last prototype killed before failing his "test run".
More like they're the actual previous prototypes who died on their "test runs". They're not all missing the same left leg because they're being prepped to have a prosthetic one installed, they're missing that leg because Estelle keeps salvaging the same prosthesis from one failed prototype and sticking it onto the next one in line, Henry included.
Should have taken the body somewhere else, Jimmy!
Why did Jimmy bring his body into the Akan Corp. building? He already had British Soldier!Jimmy and Avatar!Jimmy accompanying Henry into the building, and probably knew he would be putting himself at great risk by bringing his own body into a building full of armed soldiers. Why didn't he just leave himself in the van outside and let those two bodies go with Henry?
He might have been afraid of leaving his real self in plain sight, where anyone could have gotten to him. Better safe than sorry.
Leaving his real body unguarded in a van in a situation where Akan knew they were coming is just plain dumb. Better to keep it near people who could actually protect it.
Jimmy can only control one clone at a time anyway. In his wheelchair, he serves as a "transport vehicle" for either Plain!Jimmy or Colonel!Jimmy's body, depending on who's active at any given moment. If he stays in the van, he can only send both clones to back up Henry by constantly flipping between the two, leaving one of them immobile and very vulnerable. Plus, crippled or not, he probably wants to be in the front row when Akan goes down.
More importantly Akan is still watching, if they just ditch Jimmy's crippled body somewhere there is a very real chance that Akan will watch the feed from Henry's eyes and have Jimmy killed as soon as they leave him unattended. And they can't just blindfold Henry because they need his combat skills to keep the mooks off him or drive the van, someone has to be doing both tasks or the mooks kill them both then and there with raw numbers so Jimmy can't just.
So why didn't Henry take Colonel Jimmy with him in one van and Jimmy used his Nerd clone to drive his body to safety, then assume direct control of Colonel once both were safe and sound? There was no reason for all four of them to take the same van and stay together when splitting up would actually be the safest thing to do for Jimmy.
Well, say one of the Jimmy clones takes real Jimmy off and drives in the opposite direction, even if he takes the most erratic route possible Akan still knows Jimmy is alone now and at least a vague idea of where he is, he could easily overwhelm him by flooding the streets with troops to hunt him down. They only need to kill one specific Jimmy and all the others die to, so keeping Jimmy where two people can be returning fire (his doubles are a one at a time deal) and there are plenty of meat shields rather then splitting off where he'll have half the defences, no ability to swap out because he'd have his active double driving as well as shooting back, and no backup is the better move. Not spectacularly better but still better.
Besides, after the events in Jimmy's lab, Akan's had a good look at Jimmy's equipment via Henry's eye-feed, so there's a risk he could whip up some means of jamming whatever signals link Jimmy's control-headpiece to his clones. If he sticks with Henry, Henry can cover chair-Jimmy long enough for him to switch transmission frequencies or otherwise circumvent such jamming effects. If all he's got to protect his real self is clones, he's dead meat if his control is interrupted even for an instant ... and that's assuming one of them isn't, say, driving him somewhere at high speed when it keels over.
Given the closing Sequel Hook, it's likely that Jimmy brought his wheelchair-bound body along so that, if their mission failed and he and Henry got slaughtered, Akan would assume that "the cripple"'s death meant that Jimmy was gone for keeps. But chair-Jimmy, too, was yet another expendable clone: one that Jimmy'd deliberately grown as a quadriplegic to test out possible means of repairing his original body's spinal damage.
Why was dude so loopy?
What was up with Slick Dmitry when Henry finds him? Why was he all ragdoll-like?
Maybe he was in the process of recharging his battery?
I assumed that he was just playing dead to get the jump on Henry, having heard the gunshots outside and knowing that he'd be unable to take him on in a fair fight. It almost works, and Henry just barely manages to escape getting blasted into meatloaf in the ensuing gunfight, mostly just by luck and quick thinking.
Powers that don't make sense
Why does Akan have telekinetic powers? This doesn't seem to be explained at any point in the movie. Given that he seems to be involved with several projects to create superhumans, it may be inferred that his powers are the result of one of them, but they are so unlike anything else seen in the movie, and absolutely no explanation is given as to how they work.
Remember that the movie was inspired by FPS games, many of which give final bosses unexplained powers to make them boss material. This was a homage to that concept. The reason why he didn't get more down to earth powers like Henry is because that would make the point of Henry being a Super Prototype completely pointless; if he's stronger than Henry, then Henry's creation would be pointless since Akan could do what Henry could but better. If he's weaker than Henry, then he has the danger of being killed by a soldier who is essentially a superior version of Akan. Either possibility would need to have extra time to explain to keep immersion, so that's probably went with a "completely different, unexplained power" route instead; it keeps the focus on Henry as Akan's powers are not related to Henry and thus aren't important to explain.
The prequel comic Hardcore Akan shows Akan's unusual origins leading to him getting powers.
Remote contol clones are a crapshoot
I have problems making sense of Jimmy's remote controlled clones. I mean, why would they have different personalities, even different speaking accents? They even seem a bit dismissive of the main Jimmy (calling him "the cripple"), which is odd considering they are supposed to be mere empty vessels.
There's a couple of ways to look at it; Jimmy uses his clones to experience things that he otherwise can't because of his physical condition, so he plays different characters the same way you'd have one voice actor playing different roles in a video game. The other possibility is that each clone has its own brain, so each one has individual, unique experiences and memories, with the original being sort of a hub for all the others that contains all the actual information from all of them, but doesn't have the experiences. For instance, if Punk Jimmy hits a mosh pit, Original Jimmy is aware that it is happening, but being paralyzed, he doesn't have the muscle memory or the ability to feel the excitement or pain of moshing, so when he later switches to Hippie Jimmy, Hippie Jimmy knows Punk Jimmy hit the mosh pit, but because Original Jimmy can't transmit the feelings associated with it, Hippie Jimmy doesn't have the experience of hitting the mosh pit.
Jimmy also mentioned that he's been using them to explore other aspects of his personality. Cokehead Jimmy is a way for him to experience all the vice and debauchery he wants, nerdy Jimmy is a complete professional and a coward for when Jimmy needs to get work done, punk Jimmy lets him break all the rules he damn well pleases, and for every other Jimmy clone there's something he otherwise couldn't do that he indulges in while wearing it. Jimmy hates himself and his failing body so he uses his doubles to lead all the lives he himself would never get to and he's gotten so used to it that he has trouble dropping the role unless something really important happens. That and on a scifi scientific note spending so much time behaving a certain way is starting to burn that individual personality he chooses into those specific bodies as they form neuronal connections that could technically function independent of Jimmy, he has them too and a copy of the memories involved but he has everything else as well while his bodies only have what he experiences in them letting them build up individual thought patterns.
Treating each clone as a different "role" he's "acting" may also help Jimmy keep better track of his many, many bodies. By dressing up as a British military officer in one, a punk in another, and so forth, he's constantly reminded of what resources each body has in its possession and what task(s) it's being used for, simply by feeling what clothes it's wearing. Hence, he won't forget and, say, reach for a hand grenade his tuxedo-clad song-and-dance body isn't carrying by mistake.
As for the Colonel calling Jimmy's original body "the cripple," that's probably about 20% him staying in-character with period dialogue ("cripple" wasn't considered so politically-incorrect in WWII), and 80% Jimmy's actual attitude towards his paralyzed state. He loathes his original body's helplessness, hence his having devoted so much effort to escaping it into his clones' pseudo-flesh and pseudo-identities.
Bleeding robotics?
If Henry's left arm is artificial from just past the elbow downward, why does its wrist bleed so heavily when Bum-Jimmy pulls out the tracker on the bus? The synthetic integument we see applied to it at the beginning has no apparent connection to Henry's bloodstream, and there doesn't seem to be any reason for Estelle to make it capable of bleeding.
Like the Terminator, in order to make the skin self-repairing, it has a connection to the blood stream so it can grow back. That and having it react realistically gives Henry the heads up for if he's damaged where a numb robotic arm could be worked until it simply cease to function with Henry not realizing it needed repairs until it was too late.
How did he learn how to pilot a helicopter?
Was it ever actually established that Henry has a clue how to operate a helicopter? If not, that ending may be more final than we thought....
It still had a pilot.
Only if it doesn't have a parachute that the pilot can get to. The pilot would've seen what Henry just did to all those cyber-thugs and his boss, after all.
