MovieChat Forums > Hard Candy (2006) Discussion > No question about his guilt, but .......

No question about his guilt, but .......

posted 8 years ago by BestGuy123
6 replies | jump to latest

No question that jeff is guilty. Director did try to make it ambiguous so that the plot can survive till the end.

What made this movie pathetic for me is how a 14 yr old was able to plan all that while the homicide is still not solved. Even in the coffee shop we see missing poster still on. All the technology, staff with law enforcement and this teenager beat them all in planning a perfect revenge. Surely this was not a fantasy superhero movie..........but a realistic drama movie. Or did i just watch kick-ass 3. Hayley character surely looks like Hit-Girl character in that movie, hell she even looks like her :)

And if Jeff really was the killer, what problem he has to also kill hayley and his ex with his knife and run off. I just don't buy this crap of overwhelming eternal love for his ex, and still able to do rape and murders. It is so effing unbelievable that it is a little funny.

Still this is not my biggest objection with such movies. What msg is this movie sending out. Be heroes, take revenge, kill. Hell there are enough problems in modern society with these pedophiles out there, I hope this movie does not inspire teenagers to go after dangerous people and get in trouble. I do understand cinematic liberty, but this movie was truly a sorry excuse ......

[–] micirisi 8 years ago

What made this movie pathetic for me is how a 14 yr old was able to plan all that while the homicide is still not solved.

Remember in the dialogue Haley was told by a guy named Aaron that Jeff was responsible for the death and disappearance of the missing girl. She then goes online with several identities to see if Jeff can be baited. He goes for the bait which happens to be the youngest girl @ age 14.

And if Jeff really was the killer, what problem he has to also kill hayley and his ex with his knife and run off.

Haley was pretty much in physical control since the moment Jeff passed out from the spiked drink. Even at the end on the roof Haley outmatched him having a gun to counter his knife. Jeff also at the end claims he didn't kill the girl, only watched wanting to take pictures. There are a few minutes when Haley and he are very close and she does not have the gun trained on him. I guess he could have overpowered her but Janelle was already on site looking for him. I tend to believe him in that he though obviously a molester is not a killer. Thus making it more plausible that he would not kill Haley then get off the roof and kill Janelle to try to cover his tracks.

I hope this movie does not inspire teenagers to go after dangerous people and get in trouble.

I wouldn't lose any sleep over that prospect.

He killed sixteen Czechoslovakians. Guy was an interior decorator.

[–] BestGuy123 8 years ago

That my point exactly, how did she reach aaron, when police hasn't, and killed him.
And even if Jeff wasn't the killer, isn't it supposed to be easier to kill others compared to killing urself if those are the only choices. Especially for a sleazy guy.
And if you mean movies don't inspire people to act stupid and get killed, think again. Google is ur friend. hollywood has tried to suppress those stories for ages but there is enough out there ....

[–] micirisi 8 years ago

It was not explained how she became in contact with Aaron though a reasonable guess would be the same way she met Jeff.

He killed sixteen Czechoslovakians. Guy was an interior decorator.

[–] debrecenisrac38 8 years ago

My takeaway was a bit different, even if the screenwriter and the director did not intend it, namely that, let's call her Hayley, is a victim of sexual abuse, but isn't entirely a vigilante either.

Eileen Wurnos turned into a serial killer after being abused, and while rare for such a killer to be a woman, I've seen two murderers unfolding before my eyes, with Hayley being a Dexter type killer, she planned many things out, and got around sensitive data, possibly by befriending kids of cops or forensic psychologists, who either took their work home, or her shrink was called in to set up a profile. Once the possibly more clumsy Aaron revealed himself, she got his handle from their chat sessions.

As such, she had a vested interest to remove any and all evidence of being there, unlike vigilantes, who do take some form of credit, like a tagger would. She did enjoy driving him into suicide, and possibly Aaron suffered the same fate.

It will never be known if her abuser got their comeuppance, but it's clear, she made other guilty people pay for their sins, so the neighbor and the coffee shop patrons and employees were the innocent ones, the rest, who we got to know or heard of, were damaged goods, except Hayley will continue on to murder people, and sees herself as the hero, when neither of them was.

I live in the Gordius Apartment Complex, my interior designer was M.C. Esher.

[–] AndrewGS 8 years ago

And if Jeff really was the killer, what problem he has to also kill hayley and his ex with his knife and run off. I just don't buy this crap of overwhelming eternal love for his ex, and still able to do rape and murders. It is so effing unbelievable that it is a little funny.

That's one of the more contrived and unbelievable elements of the film and I think that the ending revelation that she always had strong reason to believe he was the killer undermines the point of a lot of the earlier film (that she was suspicious but surprised but not very to find out that he was as bad as he thought).
But I guess she just accurately read that he was conflicted about his violent side and in the end she had a gun and could have killed him if he seemed to be not ashamed enough to kill himself.

Still this is not my biggest objection with such movies. What msg is this movie sending out. Be heroes, take revenge, kill. Hell there are enough problems in modern society with these pedophiles out there, I hope this movie does not inspire teenagers to go after dangerous people and get in trouble.

Viewing Hayley as a hero is a possible interpretation, one the filmmakers knew would be possible, but I don't think it's the only or clearest interpretation; rather the filmmakers were just trying to cause audiences to think about how much punishment or sadism is appropriate for awful crimes and whether someone who hurt them a lot would also hurt others. I don't think it would inspire real-life violence or vigilantism at least not anymore than any other movie with violence.

[–] webwarrior601543 8 years ago

He's not actually guilty. The Director confirmed this in interviews.

He told the truth. Therefore, the information supplied to Haley was a classic misdirect. Or she imagined the whole thing and is, in fact, a psychopath. The whole story is basically about her own awakening to her darkness.