Today’s quick review: iBoy. After a gunshot wound leaves him with pieces of his cellphone lodged in his brain, Tom (Bill Milner), a London teenager, develops the ability to communicate with electronic devices. He uses his newfound power to track down the criminals who shot him in the head and raped his friend Lucy (Maisie Williams). But as his crusade expands, he takes risks that endanger himself and his loved ones.
iBoy is a science fiction movie that pits a teenager with mysterious powers against a dangerous local gang. iBoy explores what kind of havoc could be wrought by an individual with unfettered access to the world’s technology. However, its mediocre writing and tepid characters keep it from making the most of its premise. As such, it is outclassed by movies like Chronicle that handle similar concepts with more skill.
Where iBoy missteps the most noticeably is its plot. The skeleton of the plot is fine: Tom tests his powers on the thugs responsible for the crime before moving on to their gang superiors. But the story never decides whether Tom’s career as a vigilante is a personal quest for revenge or part of something larger. His behavior is too grandiose for a local conflict but never makes the leap to full-blown crime-fighting.
To its credit, the movie does make Tom’s power interesting. He begins to use his own internal computer for everything from cheating on exams to embarrassing his enemies at school. But the movie relies on convenient coincidences and unexplained hardware tricks to bail Tom out of dangerous situations, situations he lacks the foresight to avoid in the first place. Tom has his moments, but he simply is not a mastermind.
Beyond these flaws, iBoy is a decent but unexceptional watch. Neither Tom nor Lucy is a particularly likable character, but they avoid any of the major pitfalls that would actually make them annoying. The writing is competent enough, but there are missed opportunities where the movie could have gone smarter. Strangely enough, the movie also makes no attempt to draw any larger conclusions about morality, crime, or trauma from its events.
iBoy has enough weaknesses that most viewers are better off skipping it. Those curious enough to check it out will find a moderately interesting story that gets enough right to be watchable, if not impressive. For a darker, more enthralling take on a similar premise, check out Chronicle. For a more macabre story in a similar vein with higher stakes and more dramatic flaws, check out the live-action adaptation of Death Note.
6.0 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it the same for a decent premise and mixed execution.