Stormbreaker DVD Review

"Stormbreaker" reviews

DVD

Stormbreaker

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2006-11-10 16:00:57

Provider

DVD Review

Alex Rider is no ordinary child, he's a lethal weapon. Turns out he's a bit like a teenage James Bond, but a whole lot younger than Daniel Craig.

So successful was the 14-year-old character created by children's author Anthony Horowitz, that they made him into a movie.

At first Rider's just a regular British teenager living a mundane existence with his seemingly normal bank manager uncle Ian (Ewan McGregor). However, when Uncle Ian dies in mysterious circumstances it becomes clear that he living a double life as a spy.

Naturally the only person who can get to the bottom of his murder is our teenage extreme sports hero who is recruited by MI6's Mr Blunt (Bill Nighy) and Mrs Jones (Sophie Okonedo) to pursue the bad guys. Fortunately old uncle Ian taught Alex all about scuba diving, mountaineering, shooting and martial arts along with a few hundred languages, so this first mission shouldn't be too tough. Although Yassen Gregorovich (Damian Lewis), the world's most dangerous assassin may disagree.

You could be forgiven for thinking you've seen Stormbreaker before because it shares undeniable parallels with Agent Cody Banks. Unfortunately Stormbreaker takes itself way too seriously though and precocious Alex Pettyfer's arrogant interpretation of Rider means the film lacks the charm a family blockbuster requires.

The stunts, most of which are real (not CGI) combined with amusing cameo performances from Robbie Coltrane, Alicia Silverstone, Jimmy Carr and Stephen Fry will bring a smile to the faces of many regardless of age but this is unlikely to be the start of another long-running movie franchise.