Stormbreaker (2006) User Reviews

Someone sold their soul to get this made

[ccoosthuysen · 4/10 · 24 June 2020]

I watched this again after enjoying the series. The ensamble cast are a collection of incredibly famous and popular actors with a deep and rich talent pool. I can only assume that someone made a deal with the devil to get this made. The story has every trope and cliché you can think of. The acting is horrendous and most of the interactions make you cringe and roll your eyes so hard you could power a small English village with the static electricity generated.

Skip this and watch the new series instead

Enjoyable but a bit too light-hearted

[cosmic_quest · 5/10 · 13 August 2006]

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.

Bright and breezy, but too predictable in terms of story

[TheLittleSongbird · 6/10 · 4 January 2010]

Stormbreaker was a decent film; this is an opinion coming from someone who has little knowledge of the books. It isn't as innovative as Spy Kids, but it is decent. The special effects and the action are above average, the performances from Mickey Rourke, Ewan McGregor and Bill Nighy are great and Alex Petyfer is an appealing enough lead, the soundtrack is nice and the film goes along at a fast pace. However the storyline is very predictable and sometimes ludicrous, the script is a bit weak in places, I found Alicia Silverstone surprisingly irritating here and the cameos from Stephen Fry and Robbie Coltrane are too brief to allow them to shine properly.

Still, it is a fun and mildly enjoyable flick. 6/10 Bethany Cox

What have you done?!

[jrt_joe · 1/10 · 2 August 2006]

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!

A teenage boy becomes a spy to track down the mystery behind the new Stormbreaker computers.

[embemparrotlover · 5/10 · 24 July 2006]

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.

Ridiculous..

[ben-804 · 1/10 · 10 October 2006]

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.

A Novelist does not a screenwriter make

[anthonyjlangford · 6/10 · 26 April 2009]

Stormbreaker is the first film from Anthony Howowitz's successful Alex Rider novel series for Young Adults, think Cody Banks, Johnny English and James Bond.       

It's a spy film for teens and kids and though it's well crafted, we've seen it all before. There has been a lot of criticism leveled at this film, which this reviewer believes is a little harsh. There are some fine performances, including the lead, Alex Pettyfey who was chosen over five hundred others. Alicia Silverstone, Stephen Fry and Mickey Rourke also do an adequate job, but it's the veteran Bill Nighy who turns in the most entertaining role as Alex's boss.          

Someone close to Alex is more than he seems. Now that torch has been passed to Alex, whether he is really ready for it or not.     

There are several twists and turns as well as some impressive action scenes, but a lot of it is stagy and a little contrived, particularly the character of Nadia Vole who is just plain silly.     

There is little suspense and much is predictable. It really doesn't differ enough from similar teen fair which is a shame as Howowitz's books predate the other films it so closely resembles. However he wrote the script himself and only has himself to blame. I would have liked to see the series develop, however with only half of its 40 million dollar budget recouped in its worldwide theatrical release, it appears unlikely. Its DVD life will determine its ultimate future.     

However there's enough for kids to enjoy and that's really who it's aimed at.

oh what a dud

[sg2790 · 3/10 · 2 December 2006]

I was really excited about watching this film. Being one of the first action movies with a kid being the centre of it. But i was so disappointed. I longed for it to get better and be less cheasy and annoying but it didn't work...arrgh i was so upset This film could have potentially been a great success in my books if the lead boy opened up his shell a bit more. I felt his acting was a bit reserved.

Also Alicia Silverstone's performance was so poor. At the end when Alex is hanging off a building by a thread. Her reaction was so stupid and fake. She didn't show any true emotion or seriousness when i felt the rest of the film had quite a serious tone (other than the part where alex gets his gadgets) It was as if she was an all American cheerleader working in England as a nanny.

I have never read the book so maybe this is how its supposed to be, therefore i should complain about the authors skills not the directors but either way its was rubbish don't watch it...

Passable Bond-for-kids action flick

[adamonIMDb · 6/10 · 27 July 2018]

For a relatively unknown spy action thriller, 'Stormbreaker' is a surprisingly entertaining film, even if it does try a little too hard to be the kids' version of James Bond. As you would expect, this film is full of gimmicks and never takes itself too seriously, with a bunch of over-the-top action sequence and a shallow plot that feels like it is almost entirely built around the action.

It does serve a purpose though and it's an ideal choice to pass some time. If you can see past the many plot and character flaws, there is sufficient entertainment from the action scenes alone, and that's what most people want to see from a film like this. 'Stormbreaker' is a passable family spy action film - it won't leave you bored but it won't leave much of an impression either.

terrible

[pehe101 · 1/10 · 16 August 2006]

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.

Action packed fun for older children and adults

[lyndon_gray · 9/10 · 18 July 2006]

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.

Alex Rider's one and only screen mission

[studioAT · 6/10 · 8 April 2011]

The Alex Rider books have been very successful so therefore it is a shame that they couldn't have been converted into a franchise. All the signs are there in this film that the production company wanted it to be one but sadly box office takings meant that dream faded fast. As a stand alone film Stormbreaker is good but fans of the books will know there was so much more we could have seen in later films had they been made.

Spy Kids and Agent Cody Banks set the bar for young spy films very high and despite some big name British actors jumping to appear on screen this film was not a hit. Everyone tries hard but there obviously was something missing.

Disappointing

[AdamsKid93 · 25 October 2006]

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.

James Bond for kids? - I doubt it

[Malcius · 1/10 · 21 November 2006]

What can anyone see that's good in this film? Plot: basic - could possibly have been made into a better film if the villains' motivation could be made convincing Characterisation: virtually non-existent. Everyone was a broad caricature.

Acting: overacted or non-existent. May be the fault of the director and/or the script. Particularly, what was with the villainess's accent and snarling expressions? Or were they meant to be facial twitches? The best bit was Robbie Coltrane doing a Tony Blair/David Cameron impression.

Action was functional but no tension was built at all. So much of it made me think it was a spoof but it lacked the humour.

I understand that the film is aimed at teenagers (or at least that the books were) but I had been led to believe that it was reasonably entertaining for adults as well. This was definitely not the case, and I find it hard to believe that teenagers would like it either. Maybe it's for younger children.

It would be interesting to see the reviewers' ages to find out whether it is young people who have given this film the ridiculously high scores that it has.

For the record, I am 30 and I watched it with my 23-year-old fiancée, who also thought it was the worst film she'd seen for a long time.

In short, I recommend you not to watch this film.

I've Read The Book And Seen The Film.....

[sammyocarr · 1/10 · 12 February 2007]

This Film Contains A Few Fairly Decent Action Scenes, and Typically they are all fairly similar. The acting Is All OK and This film is enjoyable. HOWEVER!!!! Sabina Pleasure?? She's Not Even In The Book!!! So Why Is She In The FILM?????? And One Of The Most Exciting Part Of The Book Is The Quad Bike Chase, Thats Absent From The Film And Is a Real Let Down! The Vr (Virtual Reality) Computer? WHAT?? its just a simple Pc in the book... And As Far as i Can Remember The Whole Secret Office With Remote Control is not even in the book... I Could Ramble on but if you have read the book and not seen the film, Don't Watch IT!! If You Haven't Read The Book, Watch The Film then read the book, but never the other way around You'll Only Be Disappointed!

Could have been so much better

[Brooksta-Jake · 1/10 · 11 June 2007]

it was quite good, but strayed from the books

for example

Alex never met Sabina till the third book, at Wimbledon, i think And, the poster gives the impression that he wants to be a spy, when they had to continuously trick him into it, as it keeps nearly costing him his life

In other ways though it was good, and kept to the story

for example

Ian Rider's death, and the bullet holes in the car, makes sense, as it is in the books The way Alex crashes the party near the end, he did use a gun to attack Sayle

i was really looking forward to this movie, but expected much more, and if they bring out the second, it oughta be a hell of a lot better than the first

I guess on the whole it was as close to the book as they could make it, but i was let down

Witty, action-packed, and a brilliant showcase for British cinema??? you have got 2 be kidding me.

[ripclaw-1 · 1/10 · 28 November 2006]

OK.. in my opinion,the review above is misleading,i mean maybe the person who saw this movie really liked it,but 2 look at it from a overall view,this is a movie that should never have hit the cinema,it should just have been released straight to DVD/WHS.for starters the acting is awful,Ewan McGregor delivers as usual good acting,but he ain't in the movie for that long.Alicia Silverstone delivers an OK performance,but it seems like shes been away from acting for way 2 long.Alex Pettyfer delivers quite good performance,and i would agree that he could have a decent shot of becoming a good actor in the future.Mickey Rourke is old... hes old but still one of the coolest actors,i do believe that no one could play the bad guy as he does in this movie,but that doesn't save this movie sadly.when you look at this movie from a standard now a days,the animations are awful they don't feel realistic,i know this is a family movie,but at least they could have made the effects better,it ain't that dam expensive 2 do.if you have seen the Harry Potter movies,and loved em like i did,from an adult view,don't bother wasting you money on the cinema for this movie,your just gonna feel disappointed,an think "was that it??" wait for the next harry potter or Point Blanc! and hope they have gotten a better cast,and have learned from they first mistake.

i cant really stop thinking "was the person who wrote the first review,payed for saying such good things about this movie??,this movie almost is just as shitty,as the Keanu Reeves movie The Watcher". witch reminds me,newer 2 buy a DVD before actually have seen the movie.

Film for teens that isn't full of coarse language or nudity

[Needfire · 7/10 · 16 September 2006]

It's getting increasingly difficult for parents and guardians to share the experience of going to a theatre to watch a film with their teens. This might be an answer to this dilemma as long as you and your teens are in agreement about spending quality time together.

I thought that this had an exceptionally strong cast. There are enough "established" actors to appeal to the parents--Ewan MacGregor, Stephen Fry, Robbie Coltrane, and Bill Nighy. Heck, even a greasy Mickey Rourke does a turn as a comic book villain who threatens the world because he was an outcast as a young American in class conscious Britain! The story follows Alex Rider, an orphan who lives with his American nanny (Alicia Silverstone) and his mostly absentee uncle (Macgregor). A tragic turn of events puts Alex into close contact with his uncle's former employers who see him as a natural successor to his uncle, a British spy.

For what it is, this is a good film for teens. It doesn't insult their intelligence and gives them some strong themes to reflect upon. For the adults, it's Saturday afternoon bubble gum for the brain. You've probably seen this story before but it's certainly entertaining enough. Nothing memorable but go and have a good time.

Really really bad

[w_i_u_m · 2/10 · 7 November 2006]

I'll keep this short as this movie had absolutely no redeeming elements.

The acting was crap, although at least from the teen-cast no worse than could be expected.

Ihe action scenes (which was most of the movie) could have been OK, but was cut so fast you lost any sense of suspense.

The dialogue was wooden and unrealistic, and the plot full of holes.

I guess if you read the books and liked them, you will be able to daydream about them while watching the movie and avoid realizing how bad it really is, otherwise this is _not_ a good movie to go watch!

Movie that had potential

[ivhenryvi · 6/10 · 14 January 2007]

I thought it was an OK movie with a lot of potential. This movie could have been amazing: good storyline, great set/props, good martial arts choreography, and a few big name actors (Ewan McGregor and Alicia Silverstone). However, with the exception of Alex, I thought the main characters were played by the wrong people. For example, Mickey Rourke was the wrong person to play an ex-bullied guy who turned into a computer inventor. The other flaw I thought the movie had was the action: the fighting was choreographed well, but it wasn't realistic. It was a good movie regardless, but if it had a better cast I would have liked it more.

Silly attempt at a youthful Bond

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 10 November 2011]

If watching a cast of actors mugging their way through a vapid and disinterested kid-friendly adventure film sounds like your cup of tea, then you might just enjoy STORMBREAKER. Those viewers with a decent amount of taste, however, will surely find it as difficult to sit through as I did: it's one of those lowest-common-denominator movies, an utterly puerile and crass attempt at money spinning.

Alex Pettyfer, a good-looking but ultimately bland young actor, stars as an ordinary schoolboy whose uncle (hammy Ewan McGregor) just happens to be a secret super-spy. From the opening action scene, which screams overkill, I knew the action in this film was going to be appalling: a mess of disjointed editing and seen-it-all-before stunts as Pettyfer trains to take over his uncle's job. Perhaps realising the crappy action choreography they were saddled with, the producers called in Donnie Yen to spice up a couple of martial arts bouts, but even these aren't enough to enliven the film.

Realism disappears on the horizon at the film's outset and from then on in it's content to recycle old Bond ideas while ripping off Harry Potter here and there (check out the phone booth scene which is directly copied from the entrance to the Ministry of Magic in that film series) In terms of the cast, STORMBREAKER has a tendency to show off the worst of the actors it employs and only Sophie Okonedo and Damian Lewis walk away with any kind of credibility. Andy Serkis is a walking caricature, Stephen Fry uncomfortable as a Q shoe-in, while Mickey Rourke is plasticky and uncomfortable as the nonthreatening villain. Alicia Silverstone has long since vanished from our screens, and you'll see why when you witness her wooden acting here. Bill Nighy turns out to be hammy and one-note, although the worst actor by far to appear is Missi Pyle, whose excruciating Russian accent is the most irritating thing I can ever remember seeing in a movie. Let's hope there's no sequel!

An Excellent Film with An Excellent Cast

[Inferius · 10/10 · 21 July 2006]

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

A bitter disappointment for Stormbreaker fans

[xxlittlemissnaughtyxx · 6/10 · 22 July 2006]

From this film, I've learned that movies can never live up to the books. It's hard to tell whether people who didn't read the books liked it. It was much of a disappointment for me, a huge fan of the books. Some of the scenes weren't put in that were my favourite scenes in the books, and there were extra scenes, which were ridiculous. The screenplay was done by Anthony Horovitz himself, so I thought that maybe it might be like the book, but it was far from the book.

I have to say fair play to Alex Pettyfer for doing his most of his own stunts. Mrs Jones was nothing like what I expected, and Mr. Blunt in the books was supposed be dull, and boring but in this, he was just like as if he was trying too hard. I was so annoyed that Sabina Pleasure was put in the first film, because, she's not supposed to come into Alex's life until the third book 'Skeleton Key'. The person who I actually thought suited their character perfectly was Ashley Walters who played Wolf. I was SO disappointed that Yassen was red headed! I was confused also because there was a 'Mr. Crawley' in the book, but in this film they changed it to 'Crawford'. Nadia Vole was strange, I wasn't sure if Missi Pyle was good for the role. Alicia Silverstone was completely fake in this film, which is a shame because she's normally a great actress. This film would be scary and intense for little kids, but for the fans of the books, I wouldn't say it will live up to your expectations...

A total waste of talent!

[indicter · 1/10 · 29 September 2006]

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 is similar to Spy Kids 3 and could be compared to the animated series of James Bond Jr. I had a hard time understanding the plot, and I'm an adult. Do not let your children see this movie, I rather let kids see the real James bond flicks than this rubbish.

I don't know what the studios these days are aiming at, but claiming that this type of film should be rated as a family flick is wrong. Don't underestimate the intelligence of children, the producers certainly do.

The plot is hard to understand but it is quite easy to distinguish the good guys from the bag guys. The good guys are funny looking and stupid. The evil guys are stupid and looking like cruella de ville. The fighting moves are inspired from "The Transporter" and the theme from James Bond flicks.

very enjoyable spy movie with a kid star.

[pkzeewiz · 5/10 · 12 June 2010]

A young kids uncle is killed and he finds out his uncle was a secret agent and he is then trained himself to stop a billionaire madman who is going to wipe-out half of the world with a computer virus. Rider poses as a computer nerd and gets inside the lions den and tries to prevent the madness from taking coarse.

I really liked this film, I can't imagine why it wasn't a huge success, instead of the flop it became. Here in America it barely surfaced. I think it is very close in comparison to the likes of the Bond films and has a lot of tongue in cheek comedy, great direction, great acting, great effects, gadgets, explosions, fights, and so much to offer, its a million times better than those god-awful Cody banks films with Frankie Muniz. I just don't get why it didn't make it big.

Geoffrey Sax did an amazing job as director and I was really impressed with it. I must give credit to Donny Yen for choreographing so many great fight scenes here. Acting wise it was just full of greatness, Ewan McGregor, Alicia Silverstone, Bill Nighy, Robbie Coltrane and Missi Pyle all did so good. The legendary Mickey Rourke was flawless here. Wow, what can I say about Alex Pettyfer, that kid should be a super star, he is amazing, he was around 15 when he got the part in this film, and had very little acting experience, but he really gets it. Great job, much respect to him.

If you like action and the spy movies with fights, explosions and all sorts of twists and turns this film would be one to not miss, don't let the hype of its failure or the fact that a kid is the hero stop you from seeing it. 5/10 stars (and thats good for me)