Cinematical

We haven't talked much here about Stormbreaker, a movie based on a series of British books about Alex Rider (played in the movie by newbie Alex Pettyfer), a teenage superspy. As the story begins, Alex's uncle (Who I'd pictured as older, stern, and a bit mysterious -- a bit like James Mason, if you will. Turns out that he's Ewan McGregor, a casting decision that makes him a lot cooler than the uncle I'd imagined ...), a banker, dies in a car accident. It's eventually revealed that the uncle was in fact a spy for MI6, and for some reason it's decided that Alex needs to take over his mission.

Anyway, the buzz about this project has been surprisingly loud in certain circles of the internet, and now that the full trailer is finally out, it's unlikely that the anticipation will cool. I have no idea if Stormbreaker is going to be any good, but I'm really surprised by the trailer -- instead of the stupid, Cute Child Spy! movie I'd imagined, it looks just as dark and nasty as the best moments of the Bond series that so obviously influenced the film. After all, it's not often that you see a teenage protagonist being both threatened with violence and wielding an automatic weapon as part of his job. If any of you have been looking forward to this one, check out the trailer and let us know what you think.

Stormbreaker comes out Friday in the UK, and on August 18 in the US.

[via Twitch]