MovieChat Forums > Boy Wonder (2010) Discussion > Phone call? And twist ending? *SPOILER A...

Phone call? And twist ending? SPOILER ALERT

posted 12 years ago by wal1956
11 replies | jump to latest

SPOILERS AHEAD! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

In the police station, Sean pulls out a new cell phone (presumably to remain untraced if he destroys the card) and says (I think), "I need a girl." Is he calling that pimp to find out where to go, so he can ready himself for the fight? Kind of a loose end for me; just wondering what others thoughts on this were?

Also, what exactly is the twist? *SPOILER ALERT* That he kills his father? Or that his father might have been "in" on the killing of his mother? That the detective goes along with it, even though Sean has proven to be a bit crazy? The stamp/traceleron killing of Childs? Seems like the movie was actively leading towards these things. It was great, it's just that I kept hearing of the crazy twist on Netflix, but kind of thought that things were heading that way. No disrespect meant. Great film that reminded me a lot of Taxi Driver. Just curious on others' thoughts.

[–] dengeist 12 years ago

Yeah he definitely was saying that to set up the pimp.

I think the twist was the fact that he killed his father, who it turns out was innocent. Childs was guilty, so he got payback. I'm not sure why Ames decided to help him out in the end though, but he definitely used the poison on the stamp. By choosing either stamp it was an admission of his guilt.
That's my take on it.

Dear Vorenus, I don't **** your wife.

-Erinne "Rome"

[–] guyver99x 12 years ago

No, his father was definitely not innocent. First of all, the attacker (Childs) called his father by his nickname "Rock." The two knew each other. His father had owed gambling debts to Childs and Childs decided to cash in. Whether he knew Childs was going to kill his wife is irrelevant. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. But he put them in that situation with the debt, he drove to Childs' place voluntarily and we did not see him put up a struggle to save his wife as he was off screen. Also, he is completely guilty of letting Childs go during the mugshot scene when he told Sean not to finger Childs because of "consequences."

That alone means he is at least guilty of letting Childs go free and putting his family in a life-threatening situation. That is unforgivable.

Also, I'm almost 100% sure the poison was on the envelope because no matter which stamp Childs had chosen, he still killed Sean's mother and he wanted revenge. I mean, he shot his own father for pete's sake. Why leave a stamp that could be analyzed for evidence especially if the letter had his name in it or heck, even a return address? Much better idea to have the evidence neatly sealed in a return envelope on its way back to you. That part is ingenious...if the correctional officers don't figure it out first and intercept the envelope, that is.

[–] DeAd_MiKe_187 12 years ago

I was wondering about where exactly the poison was, too. Because from what I remember, Childs licked the stamp that suggested that the father was innocent. Why would he poison that one? The only thing I could think of, is if the kid *knew* his father was guilty and put the poison on that one, to punish Childs for licking the wrong stamp - which Childs would have done in order to protect the kid's father.

Had Childs licked the stamp that suggested that the father was guilty, and then got poisoned, that would make more sense.

So, he either poisoned the envelope, or the "innocent" stamp - to punish Childs for lying.

[–] dengeist 12 years ago

I don't think the father was guilty. The gambling debt...eh, it kinda makes sense. But I don't think that was the plan. The insurance money seemed to be an unexpected windfall. I think both stamps were poisoned, either way whether the father was involved or not Childs was admitting he was guilty. It was punishment either way.

Dear Vorenus, I don't **** your wife.

-Erinne "Rome"

[–] DeAd_MiKe_187 12 years ago

Well yeah, I really think the father was innocent, but the kid "knows" (wrongfully) that he's guilty, so I thought maybe he did that to punish Childs for "lying."

But, in actuality, I think the father was innocent since Childs said, "Time's up, Rock!" - he killed Sean's mother over the debt.

Of course, it's possible that Sean poisoned the envelope... But the camera really focused on Childs licking that stamp, so I don't know.

I would have liked soooooome explanation on the poison. Maybe he just poisoned both stamps because he wanted to kill Childs either way, but also wanted to know if he was right about his father (which, he wasn't).

[–] dengeist 12 years ago

I thought he wanted to know about whether his father was in on it too. It turns out he was wrong, but he still blamed his father for his mothers death, because he told him not to say it was him when he was looking at mugshots. That's why I think he poisoned both stamps, because choosing either one was and admission that he (childs) murdered his mother. That was what all the due process dialogue was about. Even if he testified that he saw Childs murder his mother, they didn't have a murder weapon, Childs would have gotten off.

Dear Vorenus, I don't **** your wife.

-Erinne "Rome"

[–] daddie0 11 years ago

I'm down with the poison envelope theory (again, why leave evidence in his cell?). As far as Childs' guilt or innocence, he was only trying to determine his father's guilt or innocence. As someone else stated above, either way Childs is confessing to his guilt by knowing whether Rock was involved.

Also, it seemed to me that the whole question of "what Sean heard" that night was up in the air, as Rock seemed quite believable. This fact combined with the Red stamp (I was thinking BLACK all the way!) was the huge twist for me. Noone is truly innocent, everyone has a hand in the murderous condition.

I liked the movie, but loved the ending.

[–] divisionbell-2 11 years ago

Childs said something to the effect of "you're out of time Rock" before hitting him and killing the wife. The father definitely owed something and his punishment was the death of his wife. My only real complaint was that this was a good origin story for a hero, but the hero alter ego shouldn't have been let go at the end. It was begging for a shot of Sean continuing his work of saving people.

[–] yvesyves (630) 2 years ago

No matter which stamp the murderer licked and whether the dad was involved or not, the guy had murdered the kid's mom in cold blood so he wanted him dead either ways.
Furthermore, the guy was a hardcore criminal (besides the mom he had also killed two kids if i remember correctly) so whichever stamp he would lick you would have no way to believe him.

[–] Sgt-aaron917 11 years ago

The father is guilty, he was in debt ... Hence the term "times up rock". For the issue regarding the stamp , child's isn't aware of the death of the father and is also only imprisoned for two years and would then get witness protection. Do you really think he would jeopardize that for the forgiveness of a kid? Sean obviously foresaw this and put poison on the red stamp. The father could've easily been a key peice of evidence against child's for the murder of the mom.... And also the father didn't point him out as the killer so he obviously watched out for child's . So that is why I believe he sent the red stamp , he chose to still lie which is why the tricelaron took its course .

[–] moviecritic007 9 years ago

I agree with your 'lack of a twist' thought. You wonder for the first quarter of the movie but once the abusing father flashbacks come it's obvious it's a precursor to celebrate his death.

Here's my problem...if the dad is involved, then the cemetery scene is a serious case of audience manipulation and serves 0% to the context of the film. What he kills his wife then goes and talks to her once a month?? As a viewer you see that and say, okay I'll rule him out as a killer. Which I believe is the reason that scene exists. Otherwise it's purely there to fool us, but it's cheating..*maybe* this coincides with the whole father owing someone money theory (although this is all based off of three words of times up rock. That could mean lots of things)

I really wasn't overly impressed with the execution let alone some acting parts. Could've been okay

Phone call? And twist ending? *SPOILER ALERT*

Phone call? And twist ending? SPOILER ALERT