Boy Wonder begins with young Sean (Jake Randazzo) and his mother chatting together on a bench. The film then abruptly changes pace and the next scene shows his mother Mary Donovan (Tracy Middendorf) being killed in front of young Sean's eyes as a result of a car jacking. The film then abruptly cuts to Sean being a teenager.
This was a problem for me as I felt that all this happened far too quickly. There are snippets of their life together before she died, but with these snippets coming at various stages in the film, for me it did make it feel somewhat disjointed. I think a slightly longer introduction between Sean & Mary would have been better and certainly would have made the film flow a lot better.
I found that Sean's transition from shy teenager to a kick ass vigilante type also came out of nowhere. His incredible fighting skills are also questionable - I realise he's fairly accomplished as a boxer, but where did he learn his other skills? It also stretches credibility for us to expect to believe that of all the languages in the world that he chooses to learn would be Chinese which is one of the most difficult languages to learn. I also found it hard to believe that police chief Bill Baldwin (Chuck Cooper) would allow Sean to have access to police computers for over 10 years and allow him to look at mugshots etc. Yes he lets him do it at first because he's a messed up kid following his mother's murder, but to allow him to look at mugshots for 10 years and allow him the possibility to access sensitive data. Come on..... It's just impossible to believe that this would happen. Boy Wonder seems to have a lot of loose threads, but seemingly with no-one there to tie them together.
I've brought up some negatives to Boy Wonder, but it also has a lot of good points; for a start, it is compelling viewing and is never boring. It has a gritty, hard edge about it which will certainly hold your interest. The fight choreography is fairly good. I was also particularly impressed with the ending of the film and thought that it was really clever. It's thought provoking and will certainly make you 'think before you act'.
Despite my reservations, I still enjoyed Boy Wonder and would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of vigilante films. For me, I just felt the narrative could have been a bit more cohesive and parts of the plot are a bit ridiculous, but it's still an enjoyable film that is well worth a look.
This was a problem for me as I felt that all this happened far too quickly. There are snippets of their life together before she died, but with these snippets coming at various stages in the film, for me it did make it feel somewhat disjointed. I think a slightly longer introduction between Sean & Mary would have been better and certainly would have made the film flow a lot better.
I found that Sean's transition from shy teenager to a kick ass vigilante type also came out of nowhere. His incredible fighting skills are also questionable - I realise he's fairly accomplished as a boxer, but where did he learn his other skills? It also stretches credibility for us to expect to believe that of all the languages in the world that he chooses to learn would be Chinese which is one of the most difficult languages to learn. I also found it hard to believe that police chief Bill Baldwin (Chuck Cooper) would allow Sean to have access to police computers for over 10 years and allow him to look at mugshots etc. Yes he lets him do it at first because he's a messed up kid following his mother's murder, but to allow him to look at mugshots for 10 years and allow him the possibility to access sensitive data. Come on..... It's just impossible to believe that this would happen. Boy Wonder seems to have a lot of loose threads, but seemingly with no-one there to tie them together.
I've brought up some negatives to Boy Wonder, but it also has a lot of good points; for a start, it is compelling viewing and is never boring. It has a gritty, hard edge about it which will certainly hold your interest. The fight choreography is fairly good. I was also particularly impressed with the ending of the film and thought that it was really clever. It's thought provoking and will certainly make you 'think before you act'.
Despite my reservations, I still enjoyed Boy Wonder and would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of vigilante films. For me, I just felt the narrative could have been a bit more cohesive and parts of the plot are a bit ridiculous, but it's still an enjoyable film that is well worth a look.