Film of the Week: iBoy

Based on the book of the same name, iBoy, a Netflix original, follows a teenage boy, Tom (Bill Milner) who, after an encounter with a gang whilst visiting his friend, Lucy (Maisie Williams), gets shot in the head when holding his phone and fragments gets lodged in his brain. When he wakes up 10 days later, he discovers that he has powers. He can connect to the internet, hack into anyone’s phones and even blow them up, and he uses these powers to get revenge on those who hurt him and Lucy.

With the film being of average length, at 1hr 30mins, it doesn’t take long before Tom gets his powers and learns how to use them, gradually getting more and more powerful as the more he realises what he can do with all the technology he has around him. Being an origin story, of a character we don’t know, it had to include a lot in a short amount of time, and when he woke up after receiving his powers, he was quick to adjust, quick to learn - it did feel a little rushed, but it then slowed back down during the second half. It does follow the classic superhero story, with the vigilante on route to stopping the bad guys gets distracted from the promises he makes during the day, but when that moment came, it was short, brief, and to the point, instead of any unnecessary information.

When I first heard about this film and read the synopsis, I was intrigued, because it’s a different type of superhero, one that hasn’t been seen before, and to have the character as a school pupil in the middle of tests presents that level of difficulty, and I did enjoy watching it.

There was nothing fictional about the world the characters were living in. It was all portrayed accurately, and having someone with superpowers in amongst that does make him look out of place, as if he had walked into the wrong movie, and because we don’t know these characters as well as we do in those huge blockbuster superhero movies, that sense that he’s out of place felt realistic.

Admittedly, it did get a little formulaic by the end, with Lucy being captured and Tom being bribed to do the main antagonist’s bidding, but I was more interested in how he was going to get out of a tough situation with his powers that we’ve never seen before.

Bill’s performance was sensational. He’s required to look at nothing for a good portion of the film, and look as if he’s reading something, hacking into something, and he does it effortlessly. I especially enjoyed his performance when he and Ellman are having a conversation, and we see him looking slightly off centre. We know he’s up to something, but we don’t know what. Tom’s character development, whilst was quick, was played well all thanks to Bill Milner’s excellent acting. 

Maisie William's performance was also excellent. Her character goes through a lot, and Maisie had to go through many emotions, sometimes in one scene, and she handled it brilliantly. 

The special effects department brought this film to life, and therefore needs more credit. Instead of a load of in-your-face graphics, all of the imagery was simple, understandable, and minimalistic, allowing us the audience to see the actors act without constantly being distracted by so much going on at once.

With iBoy being an original superhero, new characters, new world, I can sense that this would also work as a TV program. Each week, he uses his new found skills to stop these criminals in their tracks, with an overarching enemy throughout. Either that, or a sequel, because it would be nice to see Lucy and Tom’s relationship grow now that Lucy has discovered iBoy’s secret identity.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie, the real world continued spinning as Tom did his best to eliminate one gang from the streets in an attempt to get revenge on his friend. It's not the best superhero movie, but it does stand up by itself and shows what it is capable of achieving.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)