1. SeanC

   10

   The movie draws you in with Hayley's innocence, and soon turns. It surely isn't a movies everyone will like, the intensity is hard to sit though. I undeniably enjoyed it, but it took a while to get over the entirety of, in fact, it took me a week to decide weather or not I even liked the movie. I came to the conclusion that it was my undeniable favorite, if not just for the fact that it took me that long to decide. The only problem about it is, that although it is my favorite, I doubt I will ever watch it again, it's simply too intense. It is a true "Must See".… Expand

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2. MarkJ.

   5

   Hard Candy does not surprise in its ability to leave an audience shell shocked whilst failing to achieve critical acclaim. A brave narrative which revolves around the dialogue between an unbelievably psychotic teenager and a middle aged man seeking sex with minors never goes further than cliched one-upmanship which becomes as irritating as it is pointless. If your up for a shock thriller which ultimately leaves you knowing nothing more of the characters than you do after 20 minutes, then this will probably be an entertaing 90 minutes, otherwise avoid this at all costs, you'll only be left feeling cheated that you attempted to invest any emotion in what are two poorly structured and equally un-appealing characters.… Expand

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3. RogerEbertJr

   3

   After every movie I watch, I usually ask myself: "What have I learned?" Well in this case it would be that it's okay to kill a 14 year old girl in what would quite possibly be regarded as self defense. First the good: Ellen Page's performance is really good. It's not superb because she plays the character of Hayley a tad too annoying for my taste but that's probably just me. Wilson's performance is also pretty decent and his *tiny spoiler* begging and all of that is actually pretty convincing. Now the bad: The Rest. I'm sorry to say this but in this case two great performances do not a good movie make. The script is weak and the two characters, which are well played mind you, are just unbelievable. *bigger spoilers* Why does he not call the Police or his Neighbour or destroy the evidence (which we never actually get so see by the way) and instead tries to reverse the situation where he is in a weak spot? Why does he, at the end SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!! agree to Hayley's conditions even though basically everything she had told him about anything up to that point had been a lie? Why does he take responsibility for a crime he did not commit (for all we know) instead of slitting Hayley's throat (which was very possible) WITHOUT having to fear any severe consequences because he was practically still at gunpoint (with Hayley not intending to shoot and at close range)? And there are more situations like these where things just do not add up. I'm no sucker for realism (mostly) but this is stupid; I'm sorry to say. Another issue is the morale of the movie. The supposedly bad guy has a disturbed sexuality which he has managed to suppress up to now (again: for all we know he's not guilty of anything severe). The good guy, or girl, is a complete sociopath. How is the audience going to root for that character? She is as evil as it gets employing physical and psychological torture because of something she believes he MIGHT have had something to do with at some point. She even says she doesn't care whether he actually had anything to do with it at all which makes her that much more unlikable. Actually making Wilson guilty of something substantial may have helped to shift sympathies more towards Hayley. All of this just seems so wrong to me that I almost cannot imagine it wasn't done on purpose: so the alleged child molester is actually the one we're supposed to like? Then why would you let his tormentor get away without ANY punishment? This does not make sense to me. Bottom line: There are two possibilities here: 1. The movie is really good and has a pretty stupid message: sociopaths are cool and it's okay to kill people off on suspicion of them being criminals (which would almost be the same as saying the inquisition in the middle ages was right to burn people at the stake who had been accused of witchcraft of heresy/blasphemy) 2. the movie fails as hard as it possibly can by shifting sympathies towards the wrong person unintentionally and therefore leaving the viewer unsatisfied with the ending and the plot in general. Verdict: Wouldn't even recommend it to sadists (because I myself am kind of one at least when watching movies) because all of the violence be it psychological or physical comes off as dull and meaningless. 3MC Points for a performances well done and the first 20 Minutes or so which set an eerie mood which ultimately dissolves into nothing. If you want to see someone get punished for molestation where you can actually get sadistic satisfaction out of it while being well entertained go watch David Fincher's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" Better movie, better violence and ****… Expand

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