Movie Review: Hard Candy

After watching previews after preview of the new upcoming movie Juno, I was curious about the girl who played the main character in the movie. Ellen Page. I know I had seen her somewhere before, in a movie that left quite an impact on me. Only, I couldn't quite place the movie, till today when browsing Blockbuster.com for movies, I remembered to actually keyword her name.

Up popped the movie that I had been looking for. Hard Candy.

The beginning is a parents worst nightmare. I thought that that was headed into one direction, but hot damn it took a total unforeseen twist into another direction.

Anyhow, the movie starts with a teenage girl chatting it up on her computer with someone she obviously has chatted with before. You cannot tell, is this person she is chatting with a friend, a friend that wants to be more than a friend?

Within a few moments, you are taken to a coffeehouse where the camera focuses on this young boy... wait, no, the kid with the red jacket is in fact a girl, her name is Hayley (Ellen Page). The haircut totally made her look dudeish though.

She is ordering some sweets, when suddenly an older dude picks her up, and they begin to have a conversation at the coffeehouse. It is not long till you realize that this Jeff guy is the fella she had spoken to on the computer just moments ago. It's also very obvious this guy is way, way older than she is. A pedophile!

From here I feel sick. I totally know where the film is going. I right away begin to think that Hard Candy is a movie about an predator who seeks out little kids online, and this poor girl is about to get raped, killed, and we are then going to be thrown into some cat and mouse murder mystery.

But holy crap was I wrong. You see, that is the direction the film normally would of went in. The direction it would go, in reality.

Just when you think Hayley is in danger, your eyes will pop out of your sockets when you see a twist of fates occur that you were not expecting.

I will NOT give the flicks main twist away, but I will add in my final two cents.

Hard Candy is an excellent movie. It is filled with tons of suspense, and tons of twists and turns you would not predict to hatch from a film that started off with an obvious plot... yet not.

One minute you feel bad for Hayley, then you feel sorry for the predator, then your like, wait, no this guy is a sick bastard. Is he sick, or is she crazy? Is he lying, or is she lying?

It truly screws with your head, but the end will reveal all.

This one is not for kids. There is blood in it, violence, and some cursing.

Ellen Page did an awesome job at acting out this character. She has a mysterious vibe about her that makes her seem like a bad-ass, even though she is so pint sized.

I recommend this one to just about anyone. It's just a good film all around.