iBoy (2017)

iBoy: Directed by Adam Randall. With Bill Milner, Maisie Williams, Miranda Richardson, Rory Kinnear. After being shot, Tom wakes from a coma to discover that fragments of his smart phone have been embedded in his head, and worse, that returning to normal teenage life is impossible because he has developed a strange set of superpowers.

“The biggest mistake you can make going into iBoy is expecting something from the Marvel catalog.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eCause that is simply not going to happen.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eInstead what you get is a solid Brit u0026quot;estate gangu0026quot; story (like Harry Brown 2009 or a dozen others you could probably recite from memory) with some Marvel/Spiderman superhero stuff cleverly thrown in.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd that is a mouthful because I have watched and reviewed a lot of films (check out my list, about 1300) and have never seen anything quite like this before.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDoes it work? For the most part, YES. There are some pacing issues here and there, and it takes a while for the young lead to develop a character arc that the audience is comfortable with, but the suspense/payoff is rock-solid and nail-biting; and the close is edgy but respectful and optimistic.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe two best performances come from supporting actors — another oddity.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMaisie Williams steals every scene not otherwise nailed down and does so with a sweetness of character that makes you wish you knew someone like her when you were in school.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd Rory Kinnear as the arch-villain almost but not quite moves into the rarefied air of a Bond film — you keep waiting for him to say u0026quot;WHAT DO I WANT IBOY, I WANT YOU TO DIEu0026quot; — but shows enough restraint to keep from falling over the edge.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn short, given the brilliant idea, the solid execution and its ability to keep the viewer both offguard and entertained at the same time, this a fun flick deserving of a higher IMDb score than I am seeing.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRecommended!”