philipposathina Well, innocence is not angelic by definition. At least not always. It can be evil as well. This story underlines this fact in the most straightforward way i have ever seen on screen. Actually i am one of those who think that as people grow up, it's instinctively the evil that prevails in their choices and it's only through education, culture, experience and guidance that they get to understand that moral values should prevail as the only way of coexistence with other human beings. All living beings have instincts, so do humans. All living beings have "wants" cause they have needs, so do humans. Only humans, unlike animals, have also a brain that makes them want more than just a basic self preservation demands. And once they are not efficiently trained to pursue their demands without making second thoughts about a coexistence code given the existing human society, the only rule that prevails in their brain is the rule of the jungle. The "boy" in this film looks like an angel and actually could be not far from being one. But living without anything that could provide him with essential things to face the absolute loneliness and lack of any code of how far he can go with his -actually not at all excessive - demands he just gets to consider normal, things that should otherwise be taught to avoid. Trying to do his life better(he actually wants to escape from the isolated place he is doomed to live in) he gets gradually more and more accustomed with death and finally does not hesitate -actually he does it as if it's a fully justified, natural thing- to bring about the ultimate horror. Ted -that's the boy's name if i remember well- is not at all illustrated in this film as the cursed satanic "Demian" of the "Prophecy" child. What we have here is the case of a very normal, intelligent, extremely sweet, really adorable little fellow and not of any evil spirits possessions, anything but that. Actually that's what makes the story and its leading character more frightening than any corresponding "Profecy" or "Halloween" screen child murderers. It's just a sweet next door little man we have here, could be mine or yours and yet far too unknown far as his needs are concerned, needs which potentially under certain circumstances may cause destructive events and get us to really know him through them when it's too late. The film itself is very "flat" in the sense that not too many things happen in the most of it, but it's this "flat" approach that makes it realistic and so very interesting to watch as it slowly yet persistently introduces us to the "boy" 's world. In brief, a very honest, very good American film about two beautiful blue, sweet, angelic, innocent and yet evil eyes.

Chase_Bot To start off, I want to say that Jared Breeze performed AMAZING in the movie. I can really sense and feel Ted's loneliness through the his eyes. I really want to enter the movie and befriend him. It was so agonizing to witness a child grow up in such an isolated and deserted place. If I was Ted, I would literally stomp right out of that motel and never come back.You can also see that Ted does so much, only for one purpose: To find his mother who has apparently left with a 'trucker' years ago to Florida (which I'm fairly certain the trucker is actually 'William Colby' - played by Rainn Wilson).Ted's father, John Henley (David Morse) tries to care for his son, but I guess he's too depressed to do so, leaving Ted to wonder off on his own every day. The thing I don't get is there's literally only him and his son Ted in that deserted motel, with occasional customers. John also mentioned that he knows Ted gets very lonely in the motel and that he has no friends. So why does John not spend more time with his son? Is he THAT depressed to the point where he just sits in the motel all day and do nothing, EVERYDAY?It was just something that I felt I had to get off my chest when I was watching the movie. COME ON JOHN, YOUR SON NEEDS YOU. Why're you still sitting on the couch?!The scene where the bunch of prom teens bullied Ted was also pretty brutal. I felt SO sad for Ted, like really sad. Screw those teens... BUT the worse part was when Ted went to seek his dad for comfort, and John just reprimanded Ted for not leaving the customers alone.JOHN, YOUR SON JUST GOT BEATEN UP, SHOW HIM SOME LOVE. OH NO YOU JUST HAD TO SCOLD HIM. YOU HAD TO, DIDN'T YOU?To conclude, this movie was AMAZING. The cast performed great and contrary to many who say the pace of this movie was too slow, I felt that it was necessary. It was necessary for the audience to witness truly how lonely and boring life was for Ted - which will then allow them to understand why Ted was so eager to leave the motel and look for his mom.This movie definitely won't make you feel happy and I'm pretty sure it wasn't made to. But this movie was able to evoke many emotions from me, which I think is what makes a movie successful. A good movie doesn't always have happy endings or make audiences happy.I'm no great movie reviewer or critic, all these are just my thoughts after watching the movie.

politehere Let me start by saying that I generally do not like Drama movies because more often than not I find them to be excruciatingly slow and boring. I'm a huge horror movie fan. The Boy is not your typical horror movie. In fact, it's not even scary for the most part. I had no idea what it was about before watching it and only through reading the IMDb reviews after watching the movie found out that it was trying to show us how a sociopath was born. Surprisingly, I did not get bored at all during the movie because I found the shots to be artistic and I could feel the loneliness the boy had to endure. The ending made me feel so bad that I thought to myself "this has got to be true terror", in spite of the fact that I have a liking for jump scares, which were completely absent from this movie. This movie is not for everyone. Most people will bash it for being too slow, but it's the slow built-up that will make you terrified at the end. Also, the movie creates false expectations and sympathy for the wrong guy, which is a quality I absolutely love to see in any movie.8/10 for a perfect atmosphere, good acting and an effective ending.

jtlpeavey After seeing the commercials and watching the preview for this movie I was excited to see it. However, after actually watching it on IFC on Friday night my excitement quickly subsided and I was amazed at how boring the movie turned out to be. I kept hoping it would get better but it didn't. It was hard to watch the whole movie but I wanted to make sure I gave it every chance to get better. It did not get better. The characters are very weak and there is not a lot of depth to them. The acting isn't bad. The movie has some good talent in it. The writing (or lack there of) is what kills this movie. We are essentially watching a bored child mope around a motel and take his frustration out on everything and everyone around him. Perhaps they could have done a little more background on the farther son relation so that we had a better understanding of the back story. The movie billed itself as a thriller but this was anything but. Not a worthwhile movie to watch. Very boring.