I must admit: I'm a huge fan of thrillers…the only problem is I'm often disappointed by the weak story plots and cliché endings that plague most of the new suspense films that are being dished out by Hollywood fools lately. That being said, I didn't expect much when I went to see Boy Wonder at the Thrill Spy Fest in D.C. Michael Morrissey's Boy Wonder sets itself apart from the senseless crap out there today. It keeps you guessing the whole way through, and just when you think you figured out the ending, you're proved wrong. The film is a classic man vs. man revenge plot, with enough twists and turns to keep you interested. For an indie film, I was pretty surprised by the writing and acting. This director is definitely going places. The lead guy who played Caleb was awesome too. He definitely has that troubled method actor type quality to him. Expect to see him around in the future. Not sure whether or not this is going straight to DVD or if it will stay in the festival circuit for awhile, but if you have the opportunity to see Boy Wonder, you won't be disappointed.

Sean (Caleb Steinmeyer) witnessed the murder of his mother by a carjacker when he was a kid and, now a high school student, he obsesses about it. He scans mug shots at a local police precinct searching for his mother's killer. His early trauma has produced in him an anger that surfaces in acts of vigilantism against perpetrators of abuse and cruelty.

This movie is pretty much carried by Steinmeyer who in most respects appears as quiet and studious, but he skillfully gives evidence to Sean's underlying hostility. It is not too easy to pull that off I think. Thus, Sean's acts of sudden violence do not come as a big surprise. While it does not fly to have people taking the law into their own hands, Sean's acts will probably not meet with your total disapproval, appealing as they do to the vigilante in our dark sides. Much of the action is filmed at night, suitably dark to match the subject matter.

The supporting cast is uniformly good. Sean's life is complicated by his having a recovering alcoholic father (Bill Sage) who used to abuse his wife. The conflict between father and son is well played.

While Sean's background and response to it resemble Batman's, the movie is played pretty straight. However, in many of the altercations Sean gets badly beaten, but miraculously he seems to recover rather quickly and completely. Sean can get carried away in dispensing his personal justice. In one scene he has to be restrained from murder in response to a minor slight. The violence is overplayed in my opinion.

The ending is cleverly plotted and left me conflicted about what I felt about Sean.

I went to screening of Boy Wonder and was expecting nothing good. I was really surprised, this film is shot beautifully and they got some great performances, the kid playing Sean, Caleb something, was great. This movie is a puzzle and the way the story is told keeps you thinking all the way through. THE ENDING IS AWESOME!!!! This is not really an action movie but there are some great fight scenes. The fights are really quick and brutal and realistic in my opinion. I was approached to screen the film because I work in a comic book store and the director is into comic books. The movie does have a graphic novel feel to it. Like old school Frank Miller/ Klaus Jansen Daredevil. Not a hokey superhero story but more dark avenger, flawed hero (really flawed). It's not about Dick Grayson by the way.