Just like most people filling their online movie queue, I too, close some gaps with movies I’ve never heard of. Sometimes they arrive and I barely get through fifteen minutes before turning it off and sending it back. And sometimes, on rare occasions, I actually find a gem among stones.
This movie, Boy Wonder, was one such gem.
A shut-in teenager, played by Caleb Steinmeyer,
spends his time looking for trouble, after witnessing the tragic murder of his
mother right in front of his eyes. Don’t
let the DVD cover fool you, or the list of actors you’ve probably never heard
of, because this film has realness to it that only a lower budget film
can. The name can also throw you for a
loop, because in the Batman universe, Robin was often called the boy wonder.
Sean (Caleb) spends his days reviewing mug shots and
case files in the same police station he was taken to the night his mother was
murdered during a mugging, in hopes of finding the man who did it. In the same police station a new homicide
detective, played by Zulay Henao, starts a career. Detective Ames (Zulay), and Sean’s paths will
at one point cross, and that’s where the fun begins.
Even though I’ve never seen many of the actors in
this film play in anything else, I couldn’t imagine this film without
them. Each person plays there role
perfectly, with Caleb Steinmeyer anchoring everyone together. Sean’s father (Bill Sage) plays the
recovering alcoholic father with a history of abusive behavior. For a tiny bit of humor, Detective Ames’s
partner, played by Daniel Stewart Sherman, adds the much needed dry comic-relief
to a sometimes over dramatic film.
When I watch a movie, I like to be drawn into the
world, and this one does that early on.
I also want to have at least some closure. I don’t like films that take on a downward
spiral, only to never bring you back.
When the DVD is ejected, I like to feel as though the events happened
with purpose and the characters reacted in a realistic manner. Those reasons are what separate an enjoyable
film from a dreadful one, and Wonder Boy has every one of those special traits.
Written and directed by Michael Morrisey, this movie
is definitely worth a rent, especially if you have to fill a couple of empty
spots in that online queue.
3 ½ stars out of 5
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