Stormbreaker (2006)
Stormbreaker is possibly the first kids film i've watched since The Incredibles. I can't think of any others of the top of my head and really can't be bothered to check. Both films are heavily indebted to a personal passion of mine - James Bond movies. Both have villains whose motives stem from percieved childhood injustices. However the similarities stop there.
Stormbreaker is a terribly, terribly directed film. It really doesn't understand how a Bond film (or indeed any action film) works and seems to copy the most base and obvious Bond film motifs but tries to hide behind a dazzle of slow mo and camera jiggery pokery. Geoffrey Sax has all the lack of subtly of Michael Bay, but smaller explosions, so the inadequcies of character and structure are even more obvious.
For every neat idea (The agency our Hero Alex goes to work for start off as a right bunch of bastards) there's ten head slappingly stupid things.
Characters drift in and out of the action with no real purpose or depth beyond what they are doing to make sure the film progresses to the next scene or in some cases are completly forgotten about.
It contains a very dumb and contrived plot hook for further movies but at least that promises the return of the talented and rather good looking man, Damien Lewis.
The acting is generally acceptable though I'm not sure all of them realise they are in the same film. Bill Nighy brings his usual dependable idiosyncrasies to his perfomance, Missi Pyle seems to think she's in an Austen Powers movie and Robbie Coltrane and Stephen Fry are basically thrown away in one note roles.
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