Genres

Visitors Review

long-ford 2012-05-19 13:13:45

mediocre entertainment, kids may like it

This is pretty mediocre stuff. Bond for kids really, as some reviewershave already stated. The problems include an inconsistent tone, lack ofany excitement in the fight scenes and an incoherent screenplay. Hugeparts of the plot make no sense at all. The actors mostly seem to bethere for the paycheck (except for Alicia Silverstone, although she hasvery little to do.) Bill Nighy is specially badly handled. Mcgregor haswhat amounts to a cameo, and that's just not enough. Kids may like thissort of Bond-lite, but adults will probably be bored stiff. Avoidablestuff.Overall 4/10

TheLittleSongbird 2012-05-19 06:33:47

Bright and breezy, but too predictable in terms of story

Stormbreaker was a decent film; this is an opinion coming from someonewho has little knowledge of the books. It isn't as innovative as SpyKids, but it is decent. The special effects and the action are aboveaverage, the performances from Mickey Rourke, Ewan McGregor and BillNighy are great and Alex Petyfer is an appealing enough lead, thesoundtrack is nice and the film goes along at a fast pace. However thestoryline is very predictable and sometimes ludicrous, the script is abit weak in places, I found Alicia Silverstone surprisingly irritatinghere and the cameos from Stephen Fry and Robbie Coltrane are too briefto allow them to shine properly.Still, it is a fun and mildly enjoyable flick. 6/10 Bethany Cox

web-127 2012-05-16 16:33:53

Disappointing

I am a huge fan of the Alex Rider books and have read them with gleeand excitement. I was positively wetting myself looking forward to thisfilm and I have to say it was disappointing. Considering Horowitz issupposed to have been fairly heavily involved I'm shocked - my initialreaction was that he'd hate it. They've changed massive parts of the story (The Sabina issue, thecliff-top quad chase, the sushi and many many more) and even charactersnames (Herod Sayle, Alex Friend). Then they completely cartoonised lotsof the characters and really overplayed the script. Considering thelineup of great cast members I was surprised to see so much hideousover acting. I basically think they've aimed this film at too young anage group. Sure, they're kids books, but I think they play well toyoung teens right through to adults, whereas this film felt to me likeit was aimed at 6 year olds. Characters have been caricatured far morethan in the book, the story has been dumbed down and I feel lacks thetrue dark undercurrents of the book (yes lots of people die, but that'dnot the same thing). Then there's the painfully patronising realisationabout the virus not being of the computer type. Oh dear.Don't get me wrong, this isn't an awful film at all. It's just not agood one either. Your young kids will probably enjoy it, but I'm notsure your teens will, and adults will not find a lot to love. It hassome redeeming features - a great premise and overall plot do remainfrom the book, and Alex Pettyfer as Alex Rider puts in an impressiveperformance, especially for his first feature film. I think we canexpect good things from him. But if you love the books then be carefulnot to get your hopes up too much, and if you haven't read the books,then please don't judge a book by it's spin off movie - the printedversion is SOOOO much better!

mgard16 2012-05-16 02:57:01

Best Teenage Spy Film!!

Best movie I've seen in years. Wannabe James Bonds will be hooked onthe Alex Rider series from beginning to end! The movie brings Horowitz's action packed novel into life on the bigscreen and will be released on the 24 of January 2007. I can't waituntil Point Blanc is released, it would be great to see the wholeseries on the screen. My favourite novel was Scorpia when Alex searchesfor the truth about his Father's past and his involvement with MI6 andYassen Gregorovich. My favourite thing about the whole series is thegadgets that Smithers creates for Alex when he is sent on his dangerousmissions. Alex Pettyfer was great for the role of Alex Rider, and Ihope he remains the teenage spy throughout the whole series. I would recommend this film to anyone who loves action packed adventuremovies. If you love James Bond then you will be hooked on Alex Rider.And if you haven't yet seen the movie, then hurry up!!

thofis2005 2012-05-11 23:03:35

Poor

When I went to the cinema today expecting to see perhaps a crossbetween Cody Banks and Mission Impossible (making an all round betterversion of Cody Banks), I was sadly mistaken. Ewan McGregor was in thefilm for what felt like 4 minutes, and that was only the beginning -the rest of the film thereafter somewhat falls to pieces in what canonly be described as an incoherent brawl. Main actor Alex Pettyfer'sacting at times was wooden, and in the end it was quite difficult, evenafter hearing his character Alex Rider's back story, to actually careabout what is going on and what's happening to him. The few subplotsalso add nothing to what, in the end, was a poor attempt at the actiongenre. Many of the sequences, in what you would hope to see in aregular film actually ADDING to the story, do not, and in the end whatfelt like half the film was actually quite pointless. Much of thewriting left so many great talents begging, with perhaps only BillNighy the exception. All in all, I cannot recommend going to the cinemato see this film, unless you are either a die-hard fan of the books, ora die-hard fan of the genre (which I thought I was up until I saw thisfilm).

whassupwestcoast 2012-05-11 15:16:27

Very much a fun adventure film.

I loved the trailers for Stormbreaker. My favourite quotes were "AlexRider...teenager...spy", "He's no child ...he's a lethal weapon","Never send a man ... to do a boy's job" and "Alex isn't a spy... he'sa 14 year old kid" OK, I went into the theatre expecting silly and left the theatre happyI had gone. Stormbreaker is really a fun movie. It is no more sillythan any James Bond film and the action sequences are thrilling. Ofcourse, it riffs on the Bond films. Alex Rider is recruited as an MI6agent and needs the appropriate gadgets. This leads to my favouritecharacter played by Stephen Fry. In the Bond films he would have been"Q". In Stormbreaker, Fry's character is stationed in Hamley's toystore where he turns kids' things into super useful spy gadgets. Thingslike zit cream that burns through thick carbonized steel. Or, aNintendo game that is part listening device, pda, smoke bomb and more.Or, the yo-yo self-powered winch. Really useful and neat gadgets.Actually, I enjoyed all the characters. Alex Pettyfer as Alex Riderdoes a decent job as the teen spy. Missi Pyle and Mickey Rourke wereover the top as the bad guys. Yea, definitely a fun adventure film.

cbennett-7 2012-05-09 18:40:04

Very good family movie

My wife, our two kids and I were out of town at a sports tournament andfound ourselves with several hours to kill between games. Since therewasn't enough time to do any sightseeing and none of us are bigshoppers, we thought we would head to a movie. My 10-year-old son hasread most of the Alex Rider series books and had told me about thestories. I went to this movie fully expecting to be able to settle infor a 1.5 hour nap. I didn't get any sleep, but I did enjoy the movie.Maybe it was my low expectations, but I don't get why this movie hasbeen so badly panned. I thought it was a *really* good movie; notall-time classic great, but a far above average movie. Yes, if you haveread all of the Ian Fleming books and seen all of the Bond movies, thislooks like a slightly toned down version. OTOH, I am really tired ofreviewers saying, "The story wasn't very original." After seeing thefirst Bond movie, was there such a huge difference in the plots? Badguys trying to take over the world, almost, but not quite super-humansecret agent saves the world using an array of high-tech gadgets,cunning, and adaptability. At that level, all bond movies, most 60sBritish TV shows, Mission Impossible (TV series and movies), Triple-Xmovies, etc. are all the same.This was a good movie to watch with the kids. I would also watch thismovie without the kids. Entertaining, exciting, and clean. This moviehas proved to me that someone can write a story and make a movie thatisn't child inappropriate and still be well worth watching.

2012-05-09 06:58:54

Love it!

This review is from: Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker (Widescreen Edition) (DVD) My grandchildren (10 and 13) love this and watch it often. They like the action involved and the characters. The widescreen is good too. The "good over evil" story is something they enjoy.

kitbradshaw 2012-04-30 00:25:52

Stormbreaker: Good Fun Movie

Just seen this film and thought it was very good. I read the book alongtime ago but didn't think I'd like the film. But I was very surprisedby how good it was. Bill Nighy and Micky Rourke are brilliant as theHead of MI6 and the villain. Alex Pettyfer is a good lead and the restof the cast are good. Its not an overly serious film and can bechildish at times but its not trying to be a serious movie. Good actionand humour at times. Great shots of London and the rest of the UK.Overall an excellent summer watch.(Note: This film is not released in the United States until Oct 8th2006)

2012-04-29 21:10:10

Just OK

Where to begin... First off read the book if you haven't already, itsexcellent. Also keep in mind i'm a pretty nice grader. The cast was hitand miss. Alex is too old. They went for the teenage/ pre-teen girlviewer, knowing that the guys who read the book are already bound towatch. But they should've gone with more of a Daniel Radcliffe kindathing, and taken a younger character, and have him age throughout theseries, along with the female characters to please the ever-agingaudience (those who read the books). However, I think that Sabrina'scharacter was good, in the small role she played (admittedly greaterthan the book) and both villains were well cast as well. Jack wasawful. She looked more like Jack's girlfriend than her caretaker, andthe way they inserted her into sections of the plot, such as the fightscene were admittedly a decent attempt to seduce the male viewer (she'spretty hot). If you've seen the adaptation of "Eragon" the plot and feel of thismovie are very similar, with fairly large plot holes, and a lightningfast pace with almost zero character development of any charactersother than the main one. If you read the book you could follow alongbut at the same time you were disappointed with the plot additions andsubtractions.In fairness this movie is more exciting than Eragon, although just asunbelievable. While the cast was poorly chosen, they do a pretty goodjob overall, although Alan blunt is too goofy, and Sabrina's characteris blander than unflavored toothpaste (although shes pretty hot, ifthats any consolation). All in all this movie is OK... I wouldn't really recommend it to anyoneother than young or pre-teenagers, but not those who are the types whohate movies of books. As for the loyal series readers, i don't thinkthe movie will mess up your image from the book too much, except maybeMI6 is pretty lame, but otherwise its pretty good. Overall 6/10.

indicter 2012-04-25 19:48:08

A total waste of talent!

Have just seen this movie and it is a total waste of time and effort.Cant blame the actors because the script was terrible. The movie issimilar to Spy Kids 3 and could be compared to the animated series ofJames Bond Jr. I had a hard time understanding the plot, and I'm anadult. Do not let your children see this movie, I rather let kids seethe real James bond flicks than this rubbish.I don't know what the studios these days are aiming at, but claimingthat this type of film should be rated as a family flick is wrong.Don't underestimate the intelligence of children, the producerscertainly do.The plot is hard to understand but it is quite easy to distinguish thegood guys from the bag guys. The good guys are funny looking andstupid. The evil guys are stupid and looking like cruella de ville. Thefighting moves are inspired from "The Transporter" and the theme fromJames Bond flicks.

missy_arsenal 2012-04-25 08:34:52

Very good to the books

Stormbreaker was an excellent film full of action, comedy and mystery.A lot of fans were worried that all the fuss over it was too much andthat the film itself would be a let down, but it wasn't. There were afew differences in the film to the book, but that still made the filmgreat as it did follow the book's story line but made watching the filmeven more exciting. The story line too isn't hard to follow so anyonecan understand instead of asking questions every minute. The actors andactresses were very good and they acted their characters just as AthonyHorowitz had described them in the books. Alex Pettyfer was a lot alikehow I had pictured Alex Rider in the books and so was AliciaSilverstone, who was playing Jack Starbright. A very good film indeed!

Gordon-11 2012-04-24 14:17:20

Exciting adventure!

This film is about a young teenager becoming an agent for the secretservices, after his uncle got killed while working as a spy in thesecret services.Before watching the film, I thought that the lead character was calledstormbreaker, but in fact it was the name of a computer! Anyway, thefilm is very good. We get treated with a lot of well composed martialarts scenes, car chases, missile launches and helicopter scenes.Throughout the whole film, the action continues and grasps theattention of the viewers. Towards the end, I got so gripped with whatis about top happen that my palms sweated! The plot is great, not verybelievable but not outright outrageous. The story flows seamlessly andis exciting. The James Bond style gadgets are interesting and not tooridiculous. However, I find the plot twist at the very end tooartificial in the sense that it too obviously creates a room forsequel.This film is exciting and provides great entertainment!

smileyjen 2012-04-24 07:18:54

Very good

When I went to see Stormbreaker at the cinema I really enjoyed it. Itis a really good family film. It is extremely entertaining and full ofaction.It has a creature in it that is very dangerous.He also has to dotraining it is a really enjoyable film. I would recommend it to anyonethat loves action it is also a kids film.I can't wait until it comesout on DVD. And I'm really excited when it does come out. I would alsorecommend reading the books by Anthony Horowitz. They are veryinteresting and hard to put down (especially when it gets tense). I amon the third book in the series and I've never enjoyed a book more thanthe ones I'm reading now.

airwolf114-2 2012-04-23 09:11:02

A thoroughly well-made, enjoyable British action film

I went into this film with fairly high hopes, and for once I came outfeeling that it had been well worth my time and money (which is morethan I can say for the overlong, bloated 'Pirates 2').Stormbreaker is an impeccably produced junior action film with enoughquality supporting actors and a slick enough pace to make it enjoyablefor adults as well, as long as they can overlook the undeniably shoddydialogue.But, whilst such things are par for the course in most modern actionfilms, at least 'Stormbreaker' is not really spoilt by them, since theaction scenes are so superbly staged and the naturally improbable,Bond-lite plot is kept moving along at such an excellent pace byDirector Geoffrey Sax and editor Andrew MacRitchie that it feelsneither overly rushed (Mission Impossible 3) nor slack and lazy(Pirates 2). The fact that it is only 93 minutes long (a full hourshorter than 'Pirates 2') certainly helps.Perhaps the best thing about the film for me is that it is entirelyBritish, produced well out of reach of the interfering bureaucraticbusybodies who are responsible for dross like the aforementioned 'MI3'.The film takes advantage of fantastic Isle Of Man and especially Londonlocations on a scale never before attempted in a British film, and forthis it is to be highly commended, especially as director Geoffrey Sax,who directs the film with great style and pace, has never helmed a bigaction picture before.He is ably supported by a crop of the very best British technicians,such as DOP Chris Seager BSC, Stunt Coordinator Lee Sheward, CameraOperator Philip Sindall and Costume Designer John Bloomfield, who allcombine to lend a highly polished feel to the production.As far as the casting is concerned, Alex Pettyfer carries the filmextremely well as Alex Rider, looking completely at home in the thickof the action, performing many of the stunts himself. The transitionsbetween him and the stunt doubles are more or less seamless, and somesequences (such as the terrific fight in the Breaker's Yard, which isflawlessly filmed, choreographed and edited) are as good as anythingthat either Hollywood or Hong Kong could turn out (although admittedly,having master fight choreographer Donnie Yen on board helped). As themain villain, Mickey Rourke is at least adequate, although the scriptnever really gives him the opportunity to be outstanding, which is apity. Far more entertaining are Missi Pyle and Andy Serkis as his twohenchmen, as well as a terrific cast of British luminaries such as theever reliable Bill Nighy, Stephen Fry and Robbie Coltrane. Former'So-Solid Crew' member Ashley Walters also turns in an excellentperformance as Rider's ally 'Wolf'.Unfortunately, the film's main Achilles Heel is the script, which couldundoubtedly have done with an extra polish before being green-lighted.Although there is nothing wrong with it in terms of the pace of thefilm or the situations (bar a couple of slightly silly examples), themain problem is with the dialogue, which really is inexcusably poor.This means that when the motorbike chases and somersaulting Land Roverstake a breather and the dialogue has to carry the film, it does causeit to suffer.The occasional switch in tone between serious action and all out spoofalso does the film no favours, especially the rather ludicrous fightscene between Nadia Vole and Jack Starbright. Furthermore, the crux ofthe entire plot, which relies on us believing that Sayle's reason forwanting to annihilate millions of British schoolchildren is because hewas called 'Trailer Boy' at school is plainly ridiculous, and I amsurprised that a writer of Anthony Horowitz's quality allowed such aglaring idiocy get through. But all in all, I would not let this put you off, since for all itsfaults it is still an extremely enjoyable, technically excellent filmwhich I hope will encourage more such productions to be mounted in thiscountry. Whilst they might not be fashionable amongst the wine-swilling'dahlings' of the Notting Hill set, they are the ones which employ themost craft technicians, and for the longest periods of time, in thebest film studios in the country.

johnyboy88888 2012-04-22 21:41:52

Oh dear, what a disappointment (and very bad acting)

What a shame. The concept is good but the script was bad - really bad.After ten minutes my friend and I looked at each other and justlaughed. I wanted to go there and then but he made me stay but it waspainful. And it wasn't just the bad script, the actors, some of whom Ilike, gave some of the worst performances of their careers. Bill Nighywas just right over the top and who was that Mickey Rourke character ?This blue eyeshadowed, toothpick chewing, supercool nonentity is one ofthe world's greatest actors. Yet here he was really really bland. Themain problem for him was that he shouldn't have been in the film at alland was totally miscast. As was Jimmy Carr. Any other carr would havedone better - even a Rover !! Robbie Coltrane was just pathetic as theprime minister. So it needed the music and audio effects to drive italong and hide the fact that lurking below was a second rate scriptwhich should never have been picked out of the waste bin. Please don'twaste your money on this.

Bing5253 2012-04-22 04:38:44

Great movie that's fun for all ages

Stormbreaker is an action packed, fun movie that anyone can enjoy. It'sonly ninety minutes so you won't get bored. It involves some greatacting performances from Alex Pettyfer, Ewan Mcgregor and many more.Stormbreaker can be silly or unrealistic at times but it just adds abit of humour to the movie. It even has some great action scenes, somequick car chases and some big stunts. Stormbreaker is made even betterby the all star cast including Mickey Rourke, Ewan Mcgregor and BillNighy. They all make Stormbreaker better.Overall, if you are looking for a laugh or a great action movie then Iam sure that you would enjoy Stormbreaker.

anxietyresister 2012-04-21 09:08:49

It BREAKS my heart to say this, but it didn't go down a STORM with me...

Wow! A 14 year old kid called Alex Turner becomes a secret agent forhis country, taking the place of his uncle who was assassinated in theline of duty (Ewan McGregor in a bit part, what a trooper!). This is avery special child... he can speak 4 languages fluently, is a blackbelt in karate and has access to all manner of high tech gizmos, thanksto a secret lab at Hamleys. A junior James Bond, if you will. In a plotfar too nonsensical to repeat, his mission (should he choose to acceptit) is to save the life of every schoolchild in Britain today bystopping the Prime Minister from PUSHING A BUTTON. And no, it isn'tnuclear arms. Standing in his way are a mute knife-thrower, an insaneEastern European chick and the hunky bloke who boned Kim Basinger in 91/2 weeks. Only, he's looking a bit chunky now. Suddenly the odds inhis favour started getting slightly better...I won't mince words here: WHERE'S the characterisation? WHERE'S thefunny jokes? WHERE'S the entertainment?? Sadly you're not going to geta lot of that here, as we are subjected to mediocre action sequences adinfinitum, and as each one finishes the movie barely pauses for breathbefore kicking off another one. This would be fine if there was somemeat in the sandwich, but unfortunately Mum forgot the turkey breastand all we're left with is an irritating know-it-all lead character anda few crappy background tracks from the now defunct boyband Rooster.You mean, this film DIDN'T save their careers?! *SLAPS FACE INAMAZEMENT*It's obvious Stormbreaker has neither the budget or the expertisebehind it to deliver on it's objectives, and it's also trying to be asanitised version of a action flick for the kids. I'm sure however,that children want to see more than teenage boys beating up adults ordangling from buildings by their fingertips... they'd like some tonguein cheek humour and a slightly believable storyline to go with it.Sadly, the best fare on offer here is the weird portrayal of Alex's MI5boss in a dated parody of Q, which isn't especially funny. Soon, theendless shenanigans of our pint size protagonist and the countless neardeath escapes become tiresome, and despite the good British cast thedirector has assembled (appearances from Stephen Fry, Jack Dee etc) itfeels drawn out even considering the relatively short running time.I gather it is based on a book (which I haven't read), but even forthat built in audience I gather they feel disappointed. How else do youexplain the poor 5.4 user rating? Also, why hasn't this received amassive US release last year? It was shaping up to be a blockbuster,but having seen the finished article the distributor seems to swept itquietly under the carpet and forgotten about giving it widespreadexposure. Hmm, I wonder why? Don't hold your breath waiting for asequel. Final comments? Stick with 007 for the adults, Johnny Quest forthe young un's. 5/10

Lippy_Love_Stick 2012-04-16 05:47:49

Alex rider, sadly not at his best

i have always enjoyed the books and was hoping for a bit better when itcame to the film. first of though they picked quite a good Alex theacting is very cheesy and slightly unreal. It was a shame that such agood cast should go to waste i.e bill nightly and Stephen fry. Thestory could have been clearer and though that didn't matter to me as ihad read the books and new what was going on but if you don't you mightbe a bit confused by the end. anyway if you have child say about 7-10year olds they will probably like this. As the story goes Alex is anormal 14 year old who gets dragged in to what his uncles work. he goesunder cover to find out what is going on at sayles enterprise. he testout the new computers they have been making (pretty cool part of thefilm) and tries to find out why they are being made.

gabz-4 2012-04-15 13:54:00

Stormbreaker

me and my mates have seen this film and we all think it's awesome!!!it'll keep you on the edge of your seat! it's action packed, thrillingand exciting!!! we can't get over how fit Alex Pettyfer is, he playsAlex Rider in the film. he is absolutely stunning and i hope there'slots of other films coming out that hes in!!!!!!!! we give it a 10/10defiantly worth watching! the whole cast and grew worked really welltogether. there is nothing else for me to say but i am writing thisbecause my comment isn't 10 lines long but i still want it to be read.once you have read this comment please vote for the film and give it10!!! because thats what it's worth!!!!!