Hard Boiled Sweets

Much better than it's IMDB rating suggests. I enjoyed this whilst tolerating its limitations. Didn't really expect the story to unfold in the way it did.

Hard Boiled Sweets rises above many other British gangland thrillers by sheer weight of the unexpected. It's filmed really well, and is well cast. Nor does it outstay it's welcome at around 80 minutes or so. It moves pretty quick, so much so, that when the surprises start to kick in, it's a very easy ride to the finish. Hard Boiled Sweets deserves to be on any recent list of competent British crime-land dramas.

A boring, derivative, badly directed and amateurishly written film. The only other review on IMDb is written by a crew member's relative, and the quote on the poster was paid for - see the readers talk back section on Ain't-it-cool (www.aintitcool.com/node/53709). The real reviews have called it "the worst film of the year", which is much closer to the truth. The characters are clichéd, the plot badly-structured, it has no humour, no suspense, it's glib and cynical. The only thing to take away from this waste of time is that it's an exercise in dishonest film marketing - I guess that's to be expected, as the "director" is a trailer editor. He should stick to doing just that and let the grown-ups make films.

Was this a tax write off?

Who green lighted and financed such a horrible film?

PLEASE let me script and write a UK gangster flick,I promise it will be 10,000 times better than this awful pile of steaming dog poop.

Whose idea was it to use those stupid signed candy nic-names for the characters every 10 minutes? The director's girlfriend? DUMB!

What a mess….poor script,weak acting,cliché after cliché,pathetic HACKNEYED gangster trope after cliché after played out trope.

The only bright spot of this abysmal mess is the cinematography. Other than that you might be more enthralled and entertained if YOU stuck you head in the toilet,as this is indeed a class "A" toilet clogging straight to DVD/dumper of a film.Honestly I couldn't finish it because I could care less about anyone or anything in this film,and that is being kind. AVOID!

A great ensemble film with a strong cast and a punchy storyline. I really liked this film a lot. In the same vein as some brilliant modern British gangster classics, but freshened up - and really rich visually.

This is slick and stylish throughout with some gorgeous camera work and nice editing.

It's got a strong British theme running throughout, taking in some classic London / seaside town locations - seedy - but still with a faded charm!

The overall story follows a number of different characters, all rather shady and looking for shortcuts to improve their lot in life - at other people's expense. Everyone gets caught up in a roller-coaster of twists and turns. There is a nicely paced momentum to the story - the plot is just complicated enough to keep it gripping to the end, but not so much that you have to work hard to follow it.

The hard boiled sweets reference carries through the film and makes short work of introducing each new entrant and giving the audience a flavour of their personality by likening them to a different sweet. The characters are all very distinct and quirky and when they get together the combinations are variously funny, melancholic and dangerous.

Highly recommended