Boy Wonder

This movie plays like the best dark graphic novel and surprises the viewer in all of the best ways. This is the story of a young boy learning to live a life born from tragedy. The acting was very good especially the lead. He brought a nervous intensity that makes you constantly guess what his next move will be. The fight scenes were positioned for intensity more than flash. This was fitting, and helped in adding to the realistic focus that the setting and story pursue. I deeply enjoyed this movie and I am glad to help bump it's score.

It concerns me when movies of this caliber get overlooked while other nonsense is praised by the majority of movie goers.

I don't usually write reviews, and I don't usually give tens to just any movie, but this one, my God, this one deserves a ten. The whole movie is fantastic, solid, amazing. The actors, specially Caleb are above amazing. Truly fantastic performances. The script is fantastic, and the end, the end is in one word: EPIC! Definitely you must see this one. I really loved the movie and it's a shame this director hasn't had more chances to do any more movies. Congratulations to the all team who did this piece of art. Fantastic. Amazing! Brutal! Go see it! It's a hell of a joyride. When I saw the cover I thought: "a rip-off of The Crow!" Boy, was I wrong!

The teenager Sean Donovan (Caleb Steinmeyer) is a brilliant but shy student that lives with his father Terry Donovan (Bill Sage) in Brooklyn. Sean has a trauma since he has witnessed the murder of his mother in a carjack nine years ago. Sean frequently goes to the precinct to see criminal photos expecting to identify the killer of his mother and he is an amateurish boxer. During the night, Sean secretly is a vigilante, seeking out brutal criminals based on the police files to eliminate them.

The efficient police lieutenant Teresa Ames (Zulay Henao) has been just promoted after capturing the notorious gangster Larry Childs (James Russo) and transferred to work in the Homicide Department in the precinct where Sean uses to go. When Sean helps Teresa to change her flat tire, she befriends Sean and leans his traumatic story. But when she notes that Sean was searching in the computer of the police department the pimp that was murdered, she suspects that the troubled teenager might be the vigilante that is killing in New York City.

The unknown "Wonder Boy" is a dramatic thriller with a complex and well developed story of revenge. The characters are perfectly developed and Caleb Steinmeyer and Zulay Henao have great performances. The awesome conclusion shocks and shows how dangerous it to judge based on suppositions. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Garoto Prodígio" ("Boy Prodigy")

This is a good movie with a solid plot but I can't help but feel that it could have been so much more. I looked to see how far through the movie I was and was surprised that it was almost over when it really hadn't built up any climax for the ending. It's a cool, gritty movie and certainly worth the watch but there wasn't much of a progressive story and the timing seemed a little undesirable. The acting was pretty good, the action scenes were exciting but didn't last long. I'm disappointed that there was really no 'boss fight', I feel that the last 20-30 minutes could have been really thrilling if the ending was written better. Although if you treat this as a drama rather than a crime thriller the actual end scenes were pretty cool and clever.

Overall I'd give this movie a 7 out of 10, it's above average but not exactly on the end of your seat thrilling or something you'd want to watch over and over again.

I must admit: I'm a huge fan of thrillers…the only problem is I'm often disappointed by the weak story plots and cliché endings that plague most of the new suspense films that are being dished out by Hollywood fools lately. That being said, I didn't expect much when I went to see Boy Wonder at the Thrill Spy Fest in D.C. Michael Morrissey's Boy Wonder sets itself apart from the senseless crap out there today. It keeps you guessing the whole way through, and just when you think you figured out the ending, you're proved wrong. The film is a classic man vs. man revenge plot, with enough twists and turns to keep you interested. For an indie film, I was pretty surprised by the writing and acting. This director is definitely going places. The lead guy who played Caleb was awesome too. He definitely has that troubled method actor type quality to him. Expect to see him around in the future. Not sure whether or not this is going straight to DVD or if it will stay in the festival circuit for awhile, but if you have the opportunity to see Boy Wonder, you won't be disappointed.