Stormbreaker (2006)

Why so much hype?

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

For a relatively unknown spy action thriller, 'Stormbreaker' is a surprisingly entertaining film, even if it does try a little too hard to be the kids' version of James Bond. As you would expect, this film is full of gimmicks and never takes itself too seriously, with a bunch of over-the-top action sequence and a shallow plot that feels like it is almost entirely built around the action.It does serve a purpose though and it's an ideal choice to pass some time. If you can see past the many plot and character flaws, there is sufficient entertainment from the action scenes alone, and that's what most people want to see from a film like this. 'Stormbreaker' is a passable family spy action film - it won't leave you bored but it won't leave much of an impression either.

not inspired story. but it is an adaptation.not new special effects. but oldies are goldies. a film like many, many others. Alex Pettyfer charm and his unrealistic experiences, fight scenes and presence of Mickey Rourke are good points for a teen story in which basic source of humor is the exercise to be serious. short - all action film ingredients. a great show. and that is all. a teenager James Bond and the surprise to not be real boring. not for new tricks or for great acting but for the complicity of public and enthusiasm of fans. a nice film. and beginning for a series. so, nothing new. but nothing disappointed.

As a teen, I have enjoyed the Alex Rider series. Yes, it is a book series about a kid who becomes a spy, but it's done A LOT better than Spy Kids, Agent Cody Banks, etc. The books actually make it believable that a kid really could become a spy. Unfortunately, the movie fared far worse than Cody Banks and is just as bad as Spy Kids, if not worse.When I saw the trailer for the movie, I thought, "This could be decent. After all, the British did give us the Harry Potter films and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and those are fairly faithful movie adaptations of the books. Why should this be any different?" Unfortunately, I learned a hard lesson about judging an entire country based off of a few individuals.For starters, I'll say that the movie itself actually wasn't bad. If it was just a normal movie, I'd probably give it a 5/10. Unfortunately, I simply can't do that. If you are going to make a movie based off of a book, for the love of God, could you please make it similar to the book? Americans almost always fail at this attempt, yet I've always respected the British for making good movie adaptations of books. As the Harry Potter movies and the Lord of the Rings trilogy demonstrates, it's really not that hard. This is all you have to do.1. Read the book. 2. Get hired by a studio to make a film based on the book. 3. Make a movie based off of the characters, settings, and scenes in the book.There. That's it. So, why on earth do so many movie adaptations come out like this? The way this movie turned out, I wouldn't be surprised if the director heard the plot of the book from "this guy who knows this guy who knows this guys hairdresser's cousin who skimmed through the plot on Wikipedia."Let me just say that I don't care about minor changes. I don't mind that Alex used a Nintendo DS instead of a Game Boy. Those are expected changes that actually enhance the plot of the movie. But there are so many things wrong, they're just unforgivable.Why does Alex go all James Bond on multiple guards with a rope? In the book, Alex just took out one guard by kicking him, which is far more realistic and less stupid than him flinging a rope around like an idiot.Why on earth did you change the name of the villain in the movie? Are you telling me there wasn't a single Lebanese person in the entire world willing to play this part?Why, why, why, is Sabina here? Why? It doesn't make any sense?Why don't the characters look or act like each other as they do in the books?Why did you turn this into a Spy Kids-esque movie where, instead of presenting a good plot or believable characters, you decide to show someone getting kicked in the nuts? Oh, won't that just make the primary school children giggle with glee?Movies based on books are beyond easy to make. You literally have the plot, characters, dialogue, and set designs sitting right in your lap! All you literally have to do is make a movie based on what you see in the book. It is beyond simple, yet it astonishes me how so many of them fail.Oh, well. At least the movie bombed and we won't have to suffer through any sequels.

First there was Spy Kids, then there was Agent Cody Banks, and then director Geoffrey Sax (White Noise) brought us this attempt to turn James Bond into a child. Basically orphaned teenager Alex Rider (Alex Pettyfer) is just like any ordinary school boy, but he doesn't know that his uncle Ian (Ewan McGregor) is a secret agent working for the government, and he only finds this out when his uncle is killed in action. Alan Blunt (Bill Nighy) explains to Alex that he was thrust into the super spy world ever since he was a child, for many years he has been unintentionally training to become the next, and he is the only one to carry on the latest mission. Recruited by Blunt and Mrs. Jones (Sophie Okonedo), and armed with a variety of special gadgets by Smithers (Stephen Fry), the assignment is to go undercover in the compound of billionaire Darrius Sayle (Mickey Rourke). Sayle is donating a free Stormbreaker mega-computer to all British schools, and it is up to Alex to try this new system out for himself and make sure there's nothing wrong with it, which of course there is. Alex finds out more secrets going into restricted areas, and he also meets Sayle's sidekicks with vixen publicist Nadia Vole (Missi Pyle) and scar-faced mute servant Mr. Grin (Andy Serkis). The gadgets help the young spy to escape capture, and it a rush against time to get to Sayle before his plan to launch the Stormbreaker weapon in Britain gets underway. In the end, with some help from his housekeeper Jack Starbright (Alicia Silverstone) and his friend Sabina Pleasure (Sarah Bolger), Alex saves Britain, defeats the villain, and goes back to school, but his spying continues. Also starring Damian Lewis as Yassen Gregorovich, Jimmy Carr as John Crawford and Robbie Coltrane as Prime Minister. Rourke is your typical camp Bond style villain, the young hero is okay in his short time, the supporting cast of well known Brits makes for good viewing, and the Bond inspired action and special effects are alright, not a bad family action adventure. Worth watching!