How sad is this?

Awesome Movie

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Well now, the profusion of low scores for this title I'm seeing on IMDB are interesting. Some of the reviews themselves are rather revealing, too. I don't blame most of my fellows; I couldn't really give this a higher score even though a part of me wanted to, but on the whole I'm very glad I watched this film and as a work of art that puts the viewer in the position of being the "victim" of a kind of sociological experiment, I think it's an admirable success.A mistake I think many people make when viewing film is to try to ascribe a message to it: a moral you can sum up in a sentence, a payload or political polemic. It's not that people necessarily want to see this in the films they watch, but they can't help but do this sometimes, and oftentime the result of their conclusions leaves viewers feeling angry and manipulated.Make no mistake, then, this film is manipulative. I ask, though, why shouldn't it be? Furthermore, although it's manipulative in a rather extreme, even heavy-handed way, I don't think it's trying to deliver a message to the viewer in a neat little box with a bow. What I believe it is doing is presenting a situation which, after all, is not all that uncommon in the annals of recent human history, and turning it on its head; asking us to examine it from several different angles and perspectives which we might not have considered. So, the one criticism I really have of this film is unfortunately the same one that everybody else who actually liked it (that is, those that aren't utterly convinced that it's trying to shove a feminist message down their throats) have: I don't see how haley was able to do some of the things she apparently did in this movie. The precociousness and intelligence, I can buy, but the physical strength is a bit more of a stretch. Interestingly, every time jeff gets poleaxed and comes to, haley has done something else rather incredible with his body. How does she manage it? jeff must be twice her weight and size. Even if she bench presses that kind of weight regularly, managing to manoeuvre him into a chair, get off his clothes, suffocate him unconscious with cling wrap (in reality I suspect he would have been fighting really hard and it would have taken several minutes to accomplish this, though I suppose he could have been already weakened by being drugged earlier), suspend him from the ceiling -- all that stuff stretches credibility to its breaking point. In spite of having no difficulty accepting her intelligence, too, I did find at a couple of points that I was listening to an older woman speak, and not a fourteen-year-old-girl. This is particularly evident when she is reprimanding jeff for allowing her to drink and accepting her flirtations. I"ts so easy to blame a kid!", she says. "If a kid says, 'hey, let's make screwdrivers!', you take the alcohol away!" I couldn't help but feel this was the screen-writer pointing the finger and not a "kid" talking at all, though Ellen page delivered the whole scene with a lot of feeling and intensity.As for her incredible physical feats, hey, maybe she had an accomplice we didn't even see? We always get those scenes from Jeff's perspective, right, so, you never know! I'm only being half-serious, but the last-moment revelation at the end that jeff in fact had an accomplice and they were responsible for the missing/dead girl together could make for a nice comparison.The lack of other characters in the movie didn't really bother me, though, despite that last-moment reveal of a person of great significance whom we never even heard of up til that point. This after all isn't the point of the film, and in the end I admire it's sheer dedication to minimalism. This could have been a stage play, easily. And some of my favourite productions are two-handers in minimal sets, so this one fits right in. At 100 minutes though, it is perhaps just a little too lenghty, or maybe I would have spent some of that extra time in greater build-up before the two characters met, or background, or maybe even a phone call or two between jeff and Aaron to establish that they had some kind of relationship so it didn't come so much out of left-field. Still, I think it entirely possible that things like that would have taken away from the direct, what-you-see-is-what-you-get nature of the film, and that is in the end one of its most admirable qualities.The other thing to really admire in the film are the performances, which are both top-class in their own right. haley is adorable and, during those moments when we still feel jeff might be innocent, it's easy to see how he could be taken in fully and fighting with himself to stay away from this dangerously precocious and sexually awakened youngster. Jeff himself is put through the wringer of emotions and displays a wide range, but mostly he just comes across as a rather normal, low-key guy in his early thirties, the type whom you wouldn't think twice about meeting on the street. That's part of the genius of it. He has an explanation for everything; he has no harmful urges, he's just a photographer!In the end, I don't think this movie comes down firmly on haley's side any more than it really does on Jeff's. I could wish that we knew a little more about her, because I don't think the role of badass vigilante entirely suits, but I'm ok with a bit of obscurity and appreciate that the filmmakers didn't want to get bogged down in backstory and unnecessary complexities. This is a "what if?" movie, and thus I think it's advisable to suspend disblief at some of its more incredible elements and allow the thought experiment to proceed. The thought experiment in question asks you to imagine "what if this often all-too-real and tragic situation happened this way instead?" "What if the child got the upper hand? What if the child in question had her own particular kind of psychopathy to contend with?" It's interesting, and timely, and although I have some reservations, I'm glad it was made.

A 14yo girl with the skills of Jason Bourne, the tactics of James Bond and the physical strength of Ben Grimm lures a guy into a trap and tortures him under the suspicion he "might" have done something wrong. But according to the story it is kind of fair and right, for some reason. She beats him up quite a few times, actually she kicks his ass around hands down, outsmarts him, outtalks him, outeverythings him. If this was a story about a 14yo boy torturing a woman to have her confess crimes he can't prove, the feminist party would have burned theaters. Apparently, the other way round is perfectly legit, a man is guilty until proven innocent and torturing a suspect is perfectly fine. Good concept, Guantanamo. And a 14yo brat can talk him into killing himself. Yep, she can talk. That's all she does for 95% of this silly film actually. Past 30 minutes in the movie you start hoping he'd kill the damn chatterbox, regardless he's guilty or not. It could have been e decent horror short with an adolescent psycho, but no. Somebody wanted a revenge movie justifying torturing suspects. That claim killed it together with the 14yo Xmen-like brat. Apart from the first 10 intriguing minutes the film sucks throughout without redemption. Steer clear.

No two people will have he exact same outlook, view, emotion, feeling, mindset, or ways of coping/dealing with a single thing. Especially on topics the movie is based around. Even without firsthand experience..empathy can go a long way. Positively and negatively. And wit that, there's balance. Two wrongs have never made a right and two rights are too underrated. We as humans, know what's right and what's wrong. No matter how many are punished for what they've put others through, many more will continue to be harmed, with or without them around. Many people deserve to get back exactly what they've given. And then some, most of the time. Yet, there are many ways of doing so. Ways that don't have to add onto your pain and hurt. What earned you your vengeance. It hurts and it enrages..but stooping to their level or lower, makes it all the worse. And just when you thought it couldn't get any worse. In the end, we all lose, when it comes to starting off the disregard for another human. Another living thing entirely. You bit hard, and either you get away with it, or you get bitten 10x harder..you never know how much pain your causing someone. Because while you may believe that it isn't your problem, it just may be the biggest one you'll ever regret causing for someone. Just like the monster is capable, so is the victim. Be aware of what you do and why you do it, when it comes to harming those who've never intended on doing so to you. They may do worse than you, in the end. Don't hurt the undeserved. It can backfire beyond belief. Your belief. We're human, but we all have met a monster at some point. Knowingly or unknowingly. They walk alongside human beings every single day. Why encourage more to come out? How could that possibly be enjoyable? I don't understand. I never will. This film reminded me of my life and honestly, my mindset. For years. The only difference with me on that matter is, I'm still human. I can't gain anything through harming others, as they've done me. Physically and mentally. I'm not them. Nor will I ever be anything close. It could drive you off the wall, the thought alone. No one's born afraid of nothing. Again...two wrongs don't make a right. Meaning, no one will win, in the end. The acting though, as well as the story line, very well done in my opinion. But of course, this can easily be found disturbing towards those who have been a subject to sexual abuse, forced sexual acts/sexual physical contact (I won't say the words. It even hurts and angers me more me to say them.) as well as having a loved you who has experienced any of these matters, in their own ways.

It has a somewhat promising start, but the dwindle down into sadistic torture happened too quickly and without enough exposition to justify it. Essentially, it ends up just looking like To Catch a Predator but instead of the cops being called, the predator is castrated immediately. There is simply not enough information given to make you hate what you are told to think is a sick pedophile, nor is there enough information to make you feel that Hayley is justified in her actions. The ending was just weird, and I still don't quite get why Janelle was even a thing.This movie was NOT thrilling and the castration scene was weak. I didn't need to see the castration play-by-play, but there are plenty of ways to make a gruesome scene still seem gruesome even if it occurs off-screen. The girl is also stupid and should've done something to ensure that he could not move. As tiny as she was, if he was able to get the upper-hand for even a second, that would've been the end for her.I also don't get why Sandra Oh's name is presented like she was relevant. She was on screen for a grand total of 5 minutes.