Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker, directed by Geoffrey Sax (DVD)

Bibliographic Information:
Sax, G. (2006). Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker. Samuelson Productions. ASIN: B00005JP1I

Awards:
None


Plot Summary:
Fourteen year old Alex Rider lives with his uncle and his housekeeper in London. His uncle supposedly works for a bank, but is in fact a secret agent for MI6. When his uncle is killed, MI6 asks Alex to investigate the villain responsible, and to finish solving the case-- all by posing as... a teenager! Alex discovers that his uncle has been training him as a secret agent all his life, in the guise of fun sports and activities. Now Alex must be trained for real and go undercover to the suspect's remote mansion, where he must somehow find a way to stop the madman's plans to kill all of England's school children.

Critical Evaluation:
This is unashamedly a James Bond-as-a-teenager series. The elements are all there: the ruthless MI6 directors, the lovable gadget expert, the insane gadgets, the techno-super-villains, the wild stunts, and of course, the devastatingly handsome hero who saves the world. If you can get past that, it's fun! The acting is decent, the book series' author did the screenplay, so it is as well-written as the books (as in, no better and no worse), and the special effects are definitely not low budget. Fans of the books will enjoy seeing the character come to life in this first title of the series, and the movie might quite possibly lure in new readers of the series.

Reader's Annotation:
14 year old Alex Rider must avenge his uncle's death by becoming a spy for England's MI6.

About the Author:
Not applicable

Genre:
Action/adventure

Curriculum Ties:
Not applicable

Booktalking Ideas:
Not applicable

Interest Age:
10+

Challenge Issues:
This is a PG movie for action violence. Parents with reservations should preview and/or avoid the movie.

Reason Included:
The series is very popular, and this is the only book made into a movie.