I-BOY REVIEW: A FUN, BRIT FLICK THAT ENSAMBLES MCU QUALITIES!:

Maisie Williams and Bill Milner give revenge a digital twist fighting London street gangs with accidentally acquired hacking powers, though it would be useful to dial down the urban realism…

Teenage avenger … Bill Milner is iBoy. Photograph: Netflix

What can he do with his new powers — and what are they doing to him?

Before the attack, Tom Harvey was just an average teen. But a head-on collision with high technology has turned him into an actualized App. Fragments of a shattered iPhone are embedded in his brain. And they’re having an extraordinary effect on his every thought. Originally in book form by author Kevin Brooks we see the action transcends to the small screen through a Netflix original.

PHOTO NETFLIX: Maisie Williams

This looks like an interesting superhero movie served up in with British urban realism; there’s a classy cast including Maisie Williams (ever delightful as always), potty-mouth Miranda Richardson (adding some comedic relief to an otherwise dark film) and Charley Palmer Rothwell plays a menacing villain with effective results and Rory Kinnear too, and iBoy could well be a commercial success!

Bill Milner plays Tom, a shy, lonely teenage boy on an estate who interrupts some men who have sexually assaulted his friend Lucy (Williams) in a neighbouring flat. They shoot at him and in the ensuing violent chaos, bits of his smartphone get stuck in his brain and he awakens from a coma with superpowers: he can telepathically hack into any digital network. Calling himself “iBoy” he sets out to avenge Lucy and take on the drug gangs.

So as silly as the plot sounds the film turns out to be a great watch. The way the story plays out is very formulaic for the superhero genre (if you’ve seen one origin story, you’ve seen them all) but I have to admit, the way in which Tom gets his superpowers is… different? I also appreciated that iBoy doesn’t waste anytime with exposition, explaining how the superpower works and all the ins and outs, although maybe this one could have explained a little bit, how pieces of a phone be lodged into someone’s brain can give them powers. But if you can accept that early on, this is an enjoyable little indie, sci-fi, flick.

My biggest issues with the film came mostly in the third act. As Tom gets more powerful, iBoy looses the slight bit of realism it was clinging to.

I think director 1st time director, Adam Randall has potential to be a filmmaker to look out for. He did an excellent job putting this film together. The film is well-paced, told efficiently but most importantly it’s shot beautifully.  Randall presents Tom’s powers in a way that’s easy to grasp and progresses the story along, even if the powers do get ridiculous at times.

But there are silly moments in this brilliant solo outing from 1st time director (Adam Randall) silliest moment comes when he mentally accesses some YouTube videos on martial arts as he creeps up on some goon, and, having instantly absorbed them, proceeds to thump the guy. (Erm, couldn’t he watch the videos at home without the superpowers? And do they guarantee any martial arts talent?) Again: this could work with humour — but not realist grimness. It’s a nice idea which doesn’t quite come off.

Culturedemandsgeeks enjoyed iBoy more than we thought we would but we didn’t exactly have high expectations. Maisie Williams and the supporting cast proved they were great assets. And expect to see Bill Milner in big projects soon.

iBoy is released worldwide on Netflix on 27 January.