Saturday, July 22, 2006

STORMBREAKER - camper than a row of soldiers

Let me say right at the start that this new James Bond for teens is enormous fun. It rips along at a fast pace with low-budget action sequences and iconic images of Blighty and you'd struggle to have an actively bad time. The big question is how seriously are we meant to take it? As someone who has never read the kids books by Anthony Horowitz, upon which this movie is based, my only clue was the trailer. This made the film out to be a straight-faced spy thiller for teens. The hero, Alex Rider is a fourteen year-old kid, whose uncle was a British spy. Upon the death of his uncle, Alex is recruited by MI6, fitted out with the requisite gadgets and sent off to stop an Evil Megalomaniac from killing lots of people. So far, so straight.

The weird thing is that while half the cast (notably Alex Pettyfer as Alex Rider) and, from what I can tell, the script-writer, seem to be playing it straight, all the British character actors are camper than a row of soldiers. They play the movie as some sort of sub-Austin Powers James Bond spoof but without the overt humour.
Bill Nighy is brilliant (again) as the M figure - playing it like a constipated civil servant with more tics than an impala. Sophie Okenodo is more straight-laced than Vanessa Kensington. Micky Rourke looks insane with all that make-up as the baddie, and he even has a shrieking Nazi Rosa Klebb style side-kick played by Missi Pyle.

Like I said, this is no bad thing. It just adds to the whole Doctor Who made-on-a-shoestring-budget vibe that we Brits know and love. Sort of like Benny Hill does Bond but for kids. It's about as classy as watching 'Allo 'Allo. I just wonder what the Yanks will make of it.

STORMBREAKER is on general release in the UK. It opens in Hong Kong and Israel on August 10th 2006, the US on August 18th, Iceland on September 14th, Australia on September 21st and Italy on September 22nd. It hits the Netherlands on October 12th, Finland and Sweden on October 13th, Belgium and France on October 25th.

11 comments:

  1. Nothing to do with the film, but what's the big blue and white box down the left hand side of the screen? It shows up at the start of the Little Fish review

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  2. Dunno. I don't see it on my screen. Weird.

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  3. I think I'll give this one a miss. Alex Rider has the dodgiest bleached mullet since Wham!

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  4. More like Busted without the hair gel.

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  5. I'm thinking Lamahl

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  6. It does have shades of the Face man from A-team

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  7. Two words. Duran Duran. More like one word repeated.
    <"http://www.ajb007.co.uk/images/2004-05/dd_103.jpg">

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  8. I'm pretty pissed off to be honest that everyones blatantly saying 'oh we'll give this one a miss'. YOu're making the film out to be absolute shit without even seeing it first.

    Fair enough, if its not to your own taste, don't see it. However you need to think about other people who may be thinking about going to see it.

    I've seen it and think it's amazing. I know that everyone else who I went with also enjoyed it, teenagers and adults. Therefore, I think it's wrong to post such bad reviews about a film, without even seeing it first!

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  9. @Anon. But I have seen it; I did enjoy it; and I said that! Did you not read the review?!

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  10. Hey man, I can like the movie but hate the hair. I heard an interview with Horowitz and he said that he thought Alex Pettyfer was too pretty to play Alex Rider too.

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  11. Bina's right. The movie is fun. The hairstyle is pure Wham!

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