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!
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!