_Hardcore_ is a mystery/thriller about a father (Jake) searching for his missing daughter (Kristen), in the land of underground porn. I don't know how much this film inspired _8mm_, but the similarities were too many to have been insignificant.
The movie feels very subdued, especially considering the subject matter. I get the sense that there was a longer cut of this that would have been given an NC-17, but it was cut down to an R. I think the real problem for me was that there were no stakes, there was never a looming cloud of danger.
Another issue was our protagonist himself, his emotional drive was all over the place: seemingly out of nowhere he'd have a brilliant plan, then make stupid moves, then lose total control, then be very kind. More than once I had to ask myself, "is this our hero?"
Story wise, I was much more interested in Beatrice (a sex worker who is helping Jake to find his daughter) [spoiler]and I hated that she just left at the end. Jake just walks over to talk to her, she looks hurt, and walks away. What happened? She deserved a better ending.[/spoiler]
The other big problem was Kristen's arc, which is more of a twist ending. [spoiler]Okay, so I didn't buy the reveal that she ran away, and was not kidnapped. I mean, if her home life was so bad that she wanted to run away, it was never shown. So, to expect me to believe that she would not only run away from home, but find people who would make a porn movie with an underage girl, and eventually hookup with a guy who makes snuff films, there's a limit to how far my disbelief will stretch.[/spoiler]
There are good moments here, but overall it misses the mark: too many loose threads, a flat ending, and for a movie called hardcore, it never had moments that hit hard enough for it to all feel real.
Also, what was with the _Star Wars_ references? There were three of them.
Ultimately, not a bad movie, just weak.

Nobody makes it. Nobody shows it. Nobody sees it. It's like it doesn't even exist.

Hardcore is written and directed by Paul Schrader and stars George C. Scott, Peter Boyle, Season Hubley, Dick Sargent and Leonard Gaines. Music is by Jack Nitzsche and cinematography by Michael Chapman.

Plot has Scott as a Michigan businessman whose daughter disappears after a church group trip to California. Venturing out to California in search of her, he hires a sleazy private investigator (Boyle) and quickly finds that his daughter has fallen into the seedy X-Rated world of pornography.

It's a very mixed bag, one minute it's over the top with unbelievable scenarios, the next it's potent, impressive and heart breaking. The battle between religious faith and the sins of the flesh is loud and broad, which does however give the pic its intellectual stimulation, something which one feels fights off the charges of this being exploitation trash.

There's also the noir angles to savour for the so inclined, the trawl through a seedy underworld inhabited by deviants and damaged waifs is riveting by way of the portrayals. Scott's character also has classic noir tendencies, he goes from homely religious business man to the point where he has to become one of the venal to find the answers he so desperately needs.

Behind the scenes thigs were not the best, with the usual artistic differences bubbling away, and this is never more evident then with the weak finale. It reeks of a compromise, a failure to really drive a stake through the hearts of the viewers. The promised horror never arrives, a true classic noir finale jettisoned in favour of candy coated heroics. Shame that, but this is still a fascinating and powerful pic. 7/10