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

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

maryon-1 Yes, this film was well acted (very well, actually). Yes it was fairly much interesting to watch.Was it a good film?No. It was a film trading on an emotional subject. The word is exploitative.The question which should have been addressed by this film was 'Do children/young adults aged ten know the difference between right and wrong; are they culpable of murder?' The question which was asked was something along the lines of 'Do you feel sorry for this good-looking boy who was easily led and who killed a girl who was assertive?' - or something along those lines.The correlation between this film and its underlying question and the James Bulger case can't be overlooked. It's likely that the film is trading on that very correlation. The facts of the Bulger case - that the murder was premeditated, that the murder was drawn out, that the victim was tortured, that there was a sexual element (and so on) - were overlooked where inconvenient undermines Boy A. It raises the suspicion that this film is a sentimental sensationalisation and nothing more.Boy A was released at twenty-four; The James Bulger murderers were released at age eighteen - they were protected from having to serve time in an adult prison. They were released when, given the ages at which murderers and rapiists are at their most active, they were most likely to reoffend. This is a hugely significant difference.The protagonist in Boy A, played by Andrew Garfield who is a good-looking and intelligent guy, engages our sympathy from the beginning. The victim, the girl murdered, doesn't even appear until the end of the film and, when she does, is presented unsympathetically. She's shouty and dictatorial - probably she's asking for it?...Victims aren't to blame for being murdered. Parents aren't to blame - as they are shown to be in this film - for producing murderers. If the latter were true, why would one child of a family turn out to be a murderer, or a rapist, and the other children turn out OK? When it comes down to it, the only person to blame for a murder (or a rape, or an assault, or whatever.) is the person who did it. And some people are just evil.Whatever the answer, whatever is the solution to the evil people amongst us, this film doesn't address it. It simply sentimentalises the question for the sake of selling a film.That would make it cheap, nasty, exploitative and damaging. An insult to people like Denise, the mother of a two-year-old child who was abducted, terrorised, tortured and killed, without rhyme or reason. It would be a gloss on the fact that we, as taxpayers, have had to fork out millions to protect the murderers of this two-year-old child. And the amount is rising all the time because one of the murderers got drunk and revealed his identity so he had to be given another one; one of the murderers has had to be recalled to prison twice for child pornography offences. And so it goes on.The justice system, certainly in the UK, focuses on the care of the perpetrators; the victims are forgotten. We don't need a film which does the same.If Denise, the mother of James Bulger, has the misfortune to see this film it will add to her agony. That is disgraceful - and it undermines any artistic integrity the film might have had in the first place.I wish I'd never seen this film; if you have a choice before you decide to see it I would urge you to boycott it.

The Couchpotatoes Beautiful drama about a boy that committed a hideous crime when he was a juvenile but he got tried as an adult. We all know stories like that in real life. I had to think about the Jamie Bulger case in England. The question that we are all asking ourselves then is if that kid will grow up as a normal guy once he served his sentence? Can he be rehabilitated? And most of all should people still be pointed at for the crime they commit after serving their sentence or are they allowed to start with a clean sheet? As a kid you should be given that chance once you come out, because their notion of good and evil wasn't formed like an adult yet. Jack Burridge is played beautifully by Andrew Garfield. I thought it was a very touching movie. The story keeps you captivated throughout the whole movie. To me it was a very good movie that I will probably watch again in the future.

Shera Sharif I remembered the first time I've watched this movie several years back. I was too young to appreciate the depth and the moral of the movie. I've watched a quarter of it, decided its boring and I changed the channel..... Man, I wished I have kept on watching. It is such a tragic movie of how it is hard to outrun your past. And I love how the issue of child offenders had been explored in the movie, where they are usually disregarded anywhere in the world, where they will be acquitted for their crime, serve their time, and just got lost in the system. Its hard for them to make a comeback in the normal environment. This story had depth, real issues, and the grief of unspoken sadness portrayed by Andrew Garfield was just so heartfelt for me. Definitely a good drama to watch.

Bene Cumb I have always preferred British films to U.S. ones as they are more often honest and realistic. Lives of ordinary people are generally not full of becoming heroes or obtaining sophisticated skills, dramatics is spread in minor events as well. I can understand that horrible deeds should never be forgotten, but a witch hunt by media is not justified as well - especially if a person has changed for the better as Andrew Garfield's character has repeatedly demonstrated. Moreover, cornered people, who have nothing to lose, may act totally strikingly.Boy A is a gloomy film, full of stress and misapprehension, but very realistic and with excellent acting (esp. Mullan and Garfield). I could have expected a different, more clear ending, but it is probably my fault :) Not recommended to those accustomed to bright and trouble-free life.