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170 comments in total

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80 out of 114 people found the following comment useful :-
Action packed fun for older children and adults, 18 July 2006

Author: lyndon_gray from London, England

I was at the World premiere in London and I was apprehensive about watching a film adaptation of a book as some of them work and others don't. This one definitely does. From the first minutes of the film, you know that you're in for a thrilling adventure. Alex Rider, played superbly by Alex Pettyfer, is very believable as a school kid thrown into the deep end by Bill Nighy who hams it up brilliantly as spymaster Alan Blunt. Alex Rider is a deadly weapon on two legs as you'll see as the film progresses. Marvellous Micky Rourke, plays the evil villain who keeps a very unusual and deadly pet and looks as if he's just stepped off the set of a Revlon ad (you'll see!!). There's lots of action, some love interest, but that's not overplayed and although some of the evil characters look as if they've been loaned out from Cirque Du Soleil, including Micky Rourke, they play their parts as they should be, comically but with a twist of evil thrown in. It all works very well but Alex Pettyfer is a revelation. He plays the part coolly, calmly and with a great deal of conviction. I think Sean Connery would be proud of him. The film throws in a few James Bondesque clichés and there is one scene in the film which will remind you of a particular person from Goldfinger !! All in all highly enjoyable, my 11 year old niece and 14 year old nephew and their friends really enjoyed it and I think you will too.

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48 out of 61 people found the following comment useful :-
Enjoyable but a bit too light-hearted, 13 August 2006

Author: Mel J from Dundee, Scotland

Book adaptations rarely capture the excellence of the novel which they are based upon and though the same can be said for 'Stormbreaker', it still is a rather good film considering the fact it is mainly aimed at the pre-teen and young teen audience.

Based on the first of Anthony Horowitz's 'Alex Rider' novels, the story is centred around orphaned fourteen-year-old Alex Rider who lives with his Uncle Ian, a man who his nephew assumes is a dull bank worker but is in fact an MI6 operative. When Ian is killed on a mission, his superiors are determined to recruit Alex to break the case. Pressured into complying, Alex is trained at an SAS-type camp before being sent undercover to discover the true intents of psychopath Darius Sayle, who is planning a nationwide release of computers he has dubbed Stormbreakers.

In his big-screen debut as Alex Rider, sixteen-year-old Alex Pettyfer was a shade too old for the role (he was as tall as most of the adult cast, which took away the shock his role as a child thrust into danger). However, although he did have lapses where his performance turned wooden, he was quite successful in bringing the character to life, depicting Rider's determination, anger and cockiness well. It's just a shame he was no-where near as good as he proved himself to be in 'Tom Brown's Schooldays'. Mickey Rourke was great as the unhinged and vengeful Sayle, his real-life disastrous plastic surgery only enhancing his character's crazed nature. It was Pettyfer and Rourke who carried the bulk of the film but their co-stars, including Ewan McGregor, Sophie Okonedo, Robbie Coltrane and Stephen Fry, made their presence known despite having minor roles.

The fight and action scenes were nicely performed and depicted a suitably odd feel by conveying the fact it is a boy in the heat of the battle. I also enjoyed the homages to James Bond such as how the main credits at the start exploded onto the screen and how Mr. Smithers nicely complimented Bond's Q. And it was also change for the better to meet Ian Rider as he is already dead in the beginning of the novel so we never really get a feel of what his character might have been like (although we could have done without the stereotypical busy father-figure/neglected child scenes).

However, there were numerous low points in the film. I love Bill Nighy and he did give a good performance as MI6 boss Mr Blunt but the character just didn't come across right. He was too slapstick to properly depict the cold edge to Mr Blunt, a man who doesn't think twice about sending a child into the line of fire. The change to the character of Jack Starbright was also annoying. She isn't meant to be a karate expert nor does she ever become directly involved in Alex's missions so there was absolutely no need for the fight scene. It was quite irking to see the script was poorly handled in terms of keeping Alex's role a secret. Instead of both MI6 and Alex himself taking great care to ensure no-one ever learns of his part in bringing down Sayle, he's all over the news in the film and even his little girlfriend knows the truth. It ruined the idea that if recruiting Alex as a child spy became public, it would be humiliating for MI6 and disrupt whatever chance of normality Alex tries to harbour for himself.

For a first outing though, 'Stormbreaker' was enjoyable and would probably please young members of the family as well as parents dragged along. However, the unnecessary humorous touches to the film will very likely leave many older teens and twenty-somethings wanting a bit more 'meat'. Hopefully when they adapt 'Point Blanc', the darker edge that makes the novels so addictive is retained.

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36 out of 46 people found the following comment useful :-
What have you done?!, 2 August 2006

Author: jrt_joe from United Kingdom

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I was so excited about this film. I absolutely love the books, and although the trailer of the movie implied a few silly changes had been made, I still thought it would be true to the heart of the book.

What a travesty. From the moment it began I knew that being a fan of the book was not a good idea. Alex Pettyfer is not Alex Rider. Since when was Alex Rider actually particularly good at being a spy. In the film, he's already far better than any spies MI6 have to offer before he goes to training. HE'S MEANT TO BE RELUCTANT. The training camp is supposed to be a huge task for him, but apparently falling off a zip wire to music by the Gorillaz is a tough training programme.

The characters became gimmicky and ridiculous, they were like cartoon caricatures. Jack Starbright is not some kung-foo, puffer-fish loving idiot that she is in the film. Alicia Silverstone is wooden and irritating. Alex Pettyfer spends the entire duration of the film content with the fact he looks good, and doesn't feel the need to really look upset or happy or anything when these kind of emotions are required. He basically sat back, had a few facial shots of him looking moody filmed, and let his stunt double do the rest. Smithers - Stephen Fry what are you doing?? He was sarcastic and moody, he's meant to be practically the only jolly person Alex meets. And MISSI PYLE MAY JUST BE THE MOST IRRITATING ACTRESS EVER. WHAT WAS SHE DOING?!? If at any time the film started to redeem itself, she'd come on stage and run into something and say something in her ridiculous accent (By the way, that entire sequence with Jack and her made me want to walk out).

Everything was wrong. All the suspenseful moments from the book - Alex swimming under water in the mine, the jellyfish scene, the quad bike scene (which wasn't even in the film, and is one of the best scenes in the book), EVERYTHING, was just rushed and ruined, and linked together with bad one-liners such as, "what is this, Hogwarts?"

Utter, utter farce. If you are a fan of the book, do not waste your money. The Alex Rider films will certainly not be getting any more of my money.

READ THE BOOKS!

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40 out of 60 people found the following comment useful :-
A teenage boy becomes a spy to track down the mystery behind the new Stormbreaker computers., 24 July 2006

Author: embemparrotlover from United Kingdom

I came to watch this film because I have been a fan of the Alex Rider books for many years. However, I was rather disappointed by the film. The main problem was that the film was very different from the book, with many parts of the story changed and with parts added. The ending was entirely made up for the film. I disliked the way that many of the actors chosen had no resemblance to how the character was described in the book.

I also felt that many of the action and fighting scenes were overdone and the superfluous parts annoyed me. The acting, particularly from the person playing Herod Sayle, was boring and unimaginative. The film was very jumpy in places, and I thought that people who had not read the books would have been confused by the ending. I thought that some of the lines in the film were quite strange and didn't really fit in with what was being said/going on!

However, I still gave the film a 4 out of 10 rating because of the many (usually unintentionally) funny scenes. I was particularly amused by Bill Nighy's acting in the role of Alan Blunt. Stephen Fry also added some comedy to the story in his role as Smithers. The film is reasonably watchable, probably because it only lasted 90 minutes.

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13 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
Ridiculous.., 10 October 2006

Author: ben-804 from United Kingdom

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This was by far the most absurd film i have ever seen. I know spy thrillers are supposed to be a bit over the top, but this takes is to far. Missi Pyle's character was probably the worst, it was so cliché it hurt. Mickey Rourke was OK but again an absurd stereotype. I have not read the book but i doubt it had as many plot holes as the film. The only mild bit of comedy was the parody of Odd Job but it was pushed to far and ruined. The "bad guy" has no gain from his "evil plan" and the "girl" appeared like 10 minutes before the totally unbelievable ending. In short almost every actor lived up to his/her typecast and yet again Hollywood produced a movie i was offended anybody spent money on.

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33 out of 59 people found the following comment useful :-
A great movie with a lot of fun and action for everyone in the family., 22 July 2006

Author: scotty_doode from United Kingdom

The Storm is about to break... For me, it certainly did.

The trailers finished and so Stormbreaker started. What i was looking for in this movie, is what i found in the book. At this i was disappointed. The beginning of the movie was certainly different from the book, but it was still as exciting. For me, the book was perfect, all of them were. If i had it my way, none of the book would of been changed in the movie, but sadly they had to, they always do.

The action, of which was promised to be loads, was at every corner. The beginning, the middle and of course the end.

One of the best parts had to be the acting of everyone of the cast. No one disappointed me. Bill Nighy as Mr blunt was a perfect match, Alicia Silverstone for Jack Starbright, and of course the main man.. Alex Pettyfer. From his role in this movie, you can tell he will become a big star, it is a real disappointment to hear that he will not be doing Point Blanc.

People have said that this movie is way better than Harry Potter. Personally i would agree 110%. The movie is packed full of action, has a lot of laughs and is a perfect summer blockbuster for all the family.

...So when is the next one?

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Disappointing, 25 October 2006
Author: AdamsKid93 from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I can't believe how disappointing this movie was. I'm not saying it was horrible, it was just disappointing.

The Alex Rider Series is my favorite book series in the whole entire world and when I heard Stormbreaker the movie was coming out, I was SO excited to see it! That was early July, late July came (the said release date for the movie) and I hadn't heard a thing about it, no commericals...no nothing. A little while later I figured out that late July was England's release date. So I spent another several months pouring over fan sites, reading comments about the movie from English people. Then October 13th (the release date for the US) finally came. I was very very VERY excited, but once again I hadn't heard anything about it. I looked the movie up in the newspaper and on movie theater websites and I found out that it wasn't showing in my area, in fact Stormbreaker wasn't showing within a two-mile radius of my town! I finally drove two and a half miles to see it and was greatly disappointed. The movie was okay, probably a 7/10, but everything felt off. I don't think the actor that played Alex Rider was right for the part. Also the fact that everyone figured out that Alex was a spy it got rid of the secretive atmosphere and theme that the books had. This fact and because Alex Rider's actor was a bit too old for the role, got rid of the scrambling of MI6 trying to hide the fact the they are risking a child's life.

This movie was defiantly not what I expected it to be. It might not have been so disappointing if the movie company actually spent some money on advertising and got it in more theaters so then I wouldn't feel that I wasted my time and money driving so far.

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7 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
terrible, 16 August 2006

Author: pehe101 from United Kingdom

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

this film is absolutely awful. If you are a fan of the book, do not see this film. It is as if the director has only flicked through the book and picked out a few moments and changed everything else. The fact they can't even get the names right is pathetic eg.Crawley becomes Crawford, Felix Lester is now Kevin Blake and it pains me to even think about how they ruined the character of Herod Sayle. NOT DARRIUS SAYLE. And also Sabina Pleasure shouldn't even be is this film. Another bad feature of this film is the constant attempts at cheeky humour from Alex Rider. The book is not a comedy, therefore the film shouldn't be either. To sum up, I would give this film 2 out of ten in quality and 0 out of ten in how well it kept to the book.

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8 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Huge disappointment, 19 December 2006

Author: tkdhawk from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I am huge fan of the books. 6th grade was when I first purchase Stormbreak and love it. Ever since I brought the other books when they can out. I wouldn't wait for the movie because I could relate to Anthony's description of in him in the book. The Alex had brown hair not blonde. I thought the opening was OK and the action was good but thats it. I didn't follow the story hardly at all.

The movie had every chance to be great. If they would just follow the story and take their time with it. I mean look at Harry Potter it is three hours long, but it took its time to develop. Basically there were a lot of scenes cut out. The whole walking into the bank and going to Ian Riders office where he jump onto a pole and climbed to another window. The whole talk with Blunt was quite the same. Jack doesn't know that the M16 sends him on a mission in the book. She doesn't a fight either in fact she is barely mentioned at all. The army training was the same too. No 20 mile hike or parachute jumping. Alex finding the note that Ian Rider left him with the drawing. No play snooker with Sayle. Also Alex was rushed to try storm breaker when in the book he stay for a couple of days. The ending in the book didn't have Wolf. He doesn't appear until the second book by the way. Oh and Sabrina Pleasure is in. She doesn't come along until like the 4 book if I am not mistaken. She is also American and having her appear at the very ending to help save Alex was a huge disappoint.

The characters weren't all the well either. Mrs. Jones was OK but in the book she always sucked on peppermints where was that. Alan Blunt wasn't serious while Alex was a little to serious half the time. Nadia Vole was too weird. She walked funny and acted retarded half the time. Mr. Grin should of been taller when a more messed up face. Overall you should read the books then watch to movie (to see the differences). If you don't like reading then the movie is for you if you like action.

I hope Point Blank is better. I also hope they publicize more. I was really excited to watch it on Oct. 13 but come to found out my theaters weren't showing it. I had to wait all the way to buy the DVD.

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68 out of 132 people found the following comment useful :-
An Excellent Film with An Excellent Cast, 21 July 2006

Author: Jay Shukla from London, England

Many people who have read the Alex Rider series were looking forward to this upcoming film which projects the amazing adventures of the teen spy onto the big screen, however many people were afraid this would turn into another Cody Banks film and be given a bad image because of the recent teen spy films… That fear can now be forgotten!

Being a fan of the Alex Rider books myself you would probably expect a good review from me, but at first I had my doubts too. Things such as including Sabina Pleasure in this film seemed like a bit of risk and it looked like this film was going in the usual direction of a teen spy film (The save-the-girl-and-get-home-to-watch-the-Simpson's storyline). This turned out to be wrong, the author of the book incorporated these changes himself, and we can now call them improvements. It seems if he had one more chance to make changes, this was it, and they were great.

As promised we have been delivered an action-packed, amazing and riveting film! Book to film transitions often have their setbacks and sometimes turn out to displease the audience, but obviously having the author of the book writing the screenplay was a very, very good idea.

With amazing performances by stars such as Ewan McGregor, Mickey Rourke, Bill Nighy, Sophie Okonedo and many others this film turned out to be an excellent piece of work. Alex Pettyfer was an amazing Alex Rider delivering a performance worthy of an award.

Far from a family film, this movie was packed solid with action from start to finish. Lasting only around 90 minutes this proved to be enough time to fit Horowitz' well-written and great story into a feature film, nearly every aspect of the plot was included from the book.

A true work of art.

9/10

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