This week I’ll be reviewing a Netflix Original movie about a boy who finds himself gaining special abilities after an accident. Based on the novel by Kevin Brooks, iBoy follows the exploits of Tom, a mild-mannered high schooler who gains control over electronics after a bullet lodges fragments of a cell phone in his brain. The movie embraces its identity as a lighter science fiction and runs with it, finding flashy (if not a tad bit unbelievable) ways to show off Tom using his powers. iBoy is somewhere between a serviceable superhero origin story and a gritty British crime thriller, mixing elements of both genres with varying success. The story follows a fairly predictable course, but the creative visuals and slick presentation should keep audiences from getting bored during its 90-minute runtime.
The film opens by introducing us to Tom Harvey, a teenager living in the projects of East London. Tom’s life is simple. He lives with his grandmother who writes bargain bin romance novels, hangs out with his morally flexible friend, a dropout-turned-street hustler named Danny, and pines after his classmate and neighbor, Lucy. Tom’s simple life comes to an end, however, when he stops by Lucy’s flat for a study date and walks in on a home invasion. The masked intruders pursue Tom out the door, shooting him in the head as he frantically calls for help on his cell phone.
Instead of dying, Tom wakes up in hospital 10 days later. The doctor informs him that he is fine, save for a few fragments of the phone that are still buried in his cranium. It’s not long before Tom notices his world is a lot noisier than before. He can hear people’s phone calls when he’s standing nowhere near them, surf the internet without a computer, even overload electronics, causing them to short out and shower their surroundings in sparks. After getting a grip on his newfound powers, Tom sets out to identify Lucy’s attackers and seek revenge. He adopts the pseudonym iBoy and gets to work ridding his neighborhood of crime. However, Tom’s crusade to run off the local thugs begins to attract the attention of bigger fish.
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Up-and-comer Bill Milner does a solid job as Tom, playing the wonder at his new powers and the righteous anger at criminals with a contained energy. Even more impressive is how he keeps up playing opposite heavy hitters like Game of Thrones’ Maisie Williams as Lucy and Rory Kinnear. Likewise, relative newcomer director Adam Randall makes the most of what must have been a modest budget to showcase Tom using his powers to hunt down ne’er-do-wells. With such talented people in the mix, it’s a shame that the story itself doesn’t do more. Writer Joe Barton’s script would be a straight line if you mapped it out. Boy gains powers, boy hunts down criminals, criminals farther up the pecking order take notice, rinse and repeat. And the final confrontation between Tom and Rory Kinnear’s crime boss is downright baffling. I’m not sure which character makes the sillier choice, but neither of them ends the confrontation as quickly or efficiently as they could have. iBoy certainly won’t break any new ground, but if you can’t get enough of light sci-fi and have an afternoon to kill, it makes for an entertaining enough watch. Just be sure to turn off your phones beforehand.
