Alex Rider: Operation Boredom
October 19th 2006 03:46
Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker
There is an argument to say that the formula for the perfect spy movie has been mapped out ever since Ian Fleming first sat down and wrote that J.B. were just the right initials for a secret agent. Love him or hate him, you have to admit Bond has style. The martinis, the women, the gadgets, the cars – it's every straight man’s fantasy, and probably every gay man's too.
By mimicking all of those details applicable to a fourteen-year old boy, Anthony Horowitz was onto one too. What teenager didn’t want to be able to out think, out fight, or occasionally out ride his enemies (a push bike against cars – you wouldn’t think there’d be a chance). Who wouldn’t want to beat the overly dramatised, strangely motivated bad guy, while incidentally saving is country and getting the girl? Not to say that Horowitz didn’t deserve his success (the Alex Rider books were best sellers around the world). The books were fast-paced, well-written adrenalin packed pot-boilers, hard to put down and even harder to explain if, as a twenty-four year old woman, you were caught reading them. Pity that energy didn’t apply itself to the big screen.
Oh yes, by the mysterious power (cautiously dubbed the “Potter effect” by this writer) that seems to infect every inhabitant of the New York best seller list, Horowitz’s first Alex Rider novel – Stormbreaker - has made it to the movies.
Unfortunately, while exhibiting every cliché typical of the spy movie (the fight scene worthy of Bruce Lee, hanging from a wire hundreds of metres above ground, and most important of all, the attempted agonising slow death by jellyfish) Stormbreaker suffers from that most common of spy movie faults – rampant bad acting.
While (blessedly), retaining its English setting and (largely) English characters, and despite some reasonable attempts in bit parts (notably Ewan Mcgregor in an all too short stint as Alex’s uncle, and Stephen Fry as gadget master Smithers), the film suffers from a pretty, but ultimately unbelievable Alex Rider (Alex Pettyfer) whose determined underacting seems only to inspire his more experienced peers to overcompensate. Some of the worst offenders are Mickey Rourke (as bad guy Darrius Sayle), Missi Pyle (as Darrius’s Germanic sidekick Nadia Vole) and, surprisingly, Bill Nighy as the suspicious, manipulative, MI6 chief Alan Blunt.
Not to say that the story doesn’t have a twist in the tail. It does. A big one, familiar to those who know the books, but it comes too late. And feels like a last minute amendment designed to interest the viewer in the next movie (I can guarantee there’ll be another one), instead of, as in the books, a vital part of Alex’s future development. To be honest, Pettyfer just isn’t a good enough actor to induce me to care.
6/10.
There is an argument to say that the formula for the perfect spy movie has been mapped out ever since Ian Fleming first sat down and wrote that J.B. were just the right initials for a secret agent. Love him or hate him, you have to admit Bond has style. The martinis, the women, the gadgets, the cars – it's every straight man’s fantasy, and probably every gay man's too.
By mimicking all of those details applicable to a fourteen-year old boy, Anthony Horowitz was onto one too. What teenager didn’t want to be able to out think, out fight, or occasionally out ride his enemies (a push bike against cars – you wouldn’t think there’d be a chance). Who wouldn’t want to beat the overly dramatised, strangely motivated bad guy, while incidentally saving is country and getting the girl? Not to say that Horowitz didn’t deserve his success (the Alex Rider books were best sellers around the world). The books were fast-paced, well-written adrenalin packed pot-boilers, hard to put down and even harder to explain if, as a twenty-four year old woman, you were caught reading them. Pity that energy didn’t apply itself to the big screen.
Oh yes, by the mysterious power (cautiously dubbed the “Potter effect” by this writer) that seems to infect every inhabitant of the New York best seller list, Horowitz’s first Alex Rider novel – Stormbreaker - has made it to the movies.
Unfortunately, while exhibiting every cliché typical of the spy movie (the fight scene worthy of Bruce Lee, hanging from a wire hundreds of metres above ground, and most important of all, the attempted agonising slow death by jellyfish) Stormbreaker suffers from that most common of spy movie faults – rampant bad acting.
Not to say that the story doesn’t have a twist in the tail. It does. A big one, familiar to those who know the books, but it comes too late. And feels like a last minute amendment designed to interest the viewer in the next movie (I can guarantee there’ll be another one), instead of, as in the books, a vital part of Alex’s future development. To be honest, Pettyfer just isn’t a good enough actor to induce me to care.
6/10.
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