This is a very interesting lower-budget production portraying the life a late teenage boy, Sean, as he struggles to deal with things we cannot understand about his past. Sean is a deep character that doesn't fit until usual off-the-shelf vigilante narratives. He is not a person who lost all moral bearings and became entirely detached, as it is often the case of many vigilante characters. He is also not a ruthless hardened criminal justifying his acts on basis of his past. Permeating the story line are Sean attempts to reconcile a disjoint world of his own, as it throws conflicting signs triggering irreconcilable emotions at him. A most pleasant surprise of this small-production movie is that the supporting cast performs a surprisingly good job. Very basic and plain stock characters are avoided, which is refreshing to the a more attuned viewer. 'Boy Wonder' is definitively a recommended movie: complex, imaginative and requiring viewer engagement to be understood and fully enjoyed.

The teenager Sean Donovan (Caleb Steinmeyer) is a brilliant but shy student that lives with his father Terry Donovan (Bill Sage) in Brooklyn. Sean has a trauma since he has witnessed the murder of his mother in a carjack nine years ago. Sean frequently goes to the precinct to see criminal photos expecting to identify the killer of his mother and he is an amateurish boxer. During the night, Sean secretly is a vigilante, seeking out brutal criminals based on the police files to eliminate them. The efficient police lieutenant Teresa Ames (Zulay Henao) has been just promoted after capturing the notorious gangster Larry Childs (James Russo) and transferred to work in the Homicide Department in the precinct where Sean uses to go. When Sean helps Teresa to change her flat tire, she befriends Sean and leans his traumatic story. But when she notes that Sean was searching in the computer of the police department the pimp that was murdered, she suspects that the troubled teenager might be the vigilante that is killing in New York City. The unknown "Wonder Boy" is a dramatic thriller with a complex and well developed story of revenge. The characters are perfectly developed and Caleb Steinmeyer and Zulay Henao have great performances. The awesome conclusion shocks and shows how dangerous it to judge based on suppositions. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Garoto Prodígio" ("Boy Prodigy")

With Boy Wonder's many hits and regardless of its very few misses the movie perfectly presents the internal world of someone that chooses to put on the persona of a hero. It is the internal world that creates the personal motivation to face the fear of taking down the baddie. There is a scene where our hero is simply walking down the street and we are allowed to see how he perceives the natural hostility inherent in anybody's surroundings. That scene is so powerful that an awed, 'Whoa!' escaped my lips. That scene and the whole Boy Wonder movie has affected the way I think about my favorite super-heroes: Spider-man and Batman (especially their origins). That scene and the entire movie makes me reevaluate what is required to become a hero. Definitely a MUST WATCH for any comic fan!

OK, I really wanted to like this movie but I can't help but comment on the terrible, and I mean terrible directing.The actors weren't too bad, especially the lead Caleb Steinmeyer and the extremely hot Zulay Henao. In truth, the dialog was as calamitous to the entire production as the aforementioned direction thus the story could have been told so very much better.The cardinal sin in producing good movies is (as everyone knows) having your viewers pay more attention in its making than its content.During this entire "film" I feel like I am looking at an old episode of Miami Vice to be honest. Sad fact but true - TGD