Stormbreaker (2006)
- thereviewers
- Jul 19, 2015
- 3 min read
Stormbreaker is a spy adventure that comes into being when Alex Rider (Alex Pettyfer), a fourteen-year-old schoolchild, is coerced into becoming a teenage spy for Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, after his uncle Ian Rider (Ewan McGregor) is killed by Yassen Gregorovich (Damian Lewis), while on a mission.
Overall Review Score
8.5 out of 10
Review
Stormbreaker is a 2006 British teen spy adventure wrote by Anthony Horowitz and based on his novel of the same name. It features all-star cast including Alex Pettyfer, Bill Nighy, Damian Lewis, Ewan McGregor, Stephen Fry, and Jimmy Carr. Despite the film being condensed to just 89-minutes, and varying slightly from its source material, it offers up a thrilling adventure complete with all the prerequisites of a modern spy movie, i.e. gadgets, guns and a great script, and will leave the audience rooting for Alex Rider at every turn. The film features some incredible acting, specifically, Alex Pettyfer and Mickey Rourke’s portrayals of the main protagonist and antagonist, respectively, is thoroughly enjoyable to watch. As Alex Pettyfer’s innocent and serious portrayal of Alex Rider provides a nice contrast to Mickey Rourke’s evil, and equally sometimes comical, portrayal of supervillan Darrius Sayle. Although, it is Alex’s relationship with Yassen Gregorovich (Damian Lewis) that sets the film apart from others in the spy genre, as they effortlessly – despite limited verbal dialogue – communicate their hatred for each other. However, with that said, the film is pitched at the teenage market and, at times, this seeps into the film and distracts from the action unfolding. For example, the films usage of a Nintendo DS and a Nokia 7710 as gadgets, rather than a Game Boy Color that is used in the source material, come across as blatant attempts to appease advertisers and boost sells of other products off the back of the film. While the films use of typical teenager clichés, such as, boy misses a father figure and boy likes girl but girl does not seem interested only to become interested later on, come across as slightly clumsy and ill thought out – despite the actors performing their parts in these clichés with gusto. Overall, Stormbreaker is ultimately a film that will divide opinion. On one hand, it can be seen as a spy adventure that contains very few surprises. While on other, it will be seen as a sleek teen spy adventure that contains solid acting, a slightly comical script, and cool gadgetry that will easily entertain audiences over its 89-minute run time.
Reviewer 1's score & comments:
Score: 9 out of 10
Comments:
Stormbreaker is the 2006 adaptation of Anthony Horowitz’s book of the same name. Though the film is primary aimed at the pre-teen to teen audience, Stormbreaker utilises clever gadgets, great acting and an impressive script to create an action packed film well worth watching. Alex Pettyfer’s acting really helps the audience become surrounded in this teen spy action, adventure film, while Damian Lewis further adds to this by portraying a truly convincing Yassen Gregorovich. My only criticism of Stormbreaker is that I believe they could have made the film a bit longer to encompass more of the rich source material detailed in Anthony Horowitz’s book. However, all in all they have made a book to film adaptation that the director, actors and writer should be proud of.
Reviewer 2's score & comments:
Score: 8 out of 10
Comments:
Stormbreaker adopts a rather an unusual take on the spy genre. The decision to use a fourteen year old as the main protagonist, while rather brave and atypical, works, the filmmakers have instantaneously created a film that will resonate with schoolchildren across the world as most will, upon watching the film, want to be as sleek and cool as Alex Rider. Away from this, the film does contain a few clichés and peculiar twists that make the audience question its believability, while these can be initially overlooked, as the film progresses they become harder to justify and ultimately distract from what is a fast paced, well made teen spy action adventure. Overall, Stormbreaker breaks the mould and breathes new life, via a Nintendo DS Cartridge, into the spy genre. It is a film that is packed with action scenes, amusing antagonists, and cool gadgets, but it should have pushed the envelope further in order to stand out from the crowd.
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