Super Ninja Spies

By: Matt Kamen
Date: Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Wow. You reader-types actually left feedback on the last column. Thank you it's nice to know people are actually reading!

Following on a bit from last week, Superman Returns took £4.3m in it's opening weekend here in the UK, a touch over two-thirds of Pirates of the Caribbean's £6m. I don't know the projections or expectations Warner Brothers may have had for Bryan Singer's ode to Krypton's last son but that doesn't seem the strongest figure for a movie with so much hype prior to its release. Even so, it's undoubtedly been successful enough worldwide to warrant a sequel. I just hope it delivers a more satisfying experience than 'Returns' did.

As a brief digression, my comment last week regarding Superman as a "deadbeat dad" seemed to have generated a bit of ire directed at my inbox. What I disliked was Superman, upon discovering he had a child, flying off and essentially abandoning Jason. I actually liked the introduction of a child for Lois and Clark, and appreciate Singer having the stones to do something that moves the character forward in that manner, something the comics would never dare to do. The way it was done, however, left a lot to be desired. That said, Singer does seem to like playing with ongoing plot threads as evidenced by the first two X-Men movies, so perhaps Jason's parentage is something he intends to build on in his second film.


Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go!

Naruto has landed. Arguably the most popular anime series in years has finally made it to UK TV screens, though controversy abounds. Anime fans, ever a fickle lot, are claiming on various forums that Jetix, the satellite and cable children's channel airing the show daily at 8pm, have made further edits beyond those made for the US version. While Jetix originally claimed to be airing the same TV versions as the US, I can see the network getting antsy over shuriken impacts or other acts of "imitable violence" ever a concern since Power Rangers first hit big. I'm trying to get firm confirmation from Jetix as to whether their TV airing has been further edited but in the mean time, there's always the Uncut DVDs to tide us over.

Storm rising...

British author pens novel featuring British teenager becoming a spy for British Intelligence which gets turned into action movie filmed in Britain with an almost entirely British cast and only a teensy bit of American money. Sounds like Stormbreaker, the first cinematic outing for teen spy Alex Rider. And given all its... Britishness, it's only fair we get it a good month ahead of the US. Makes a nice change.

Stormbreaker is an interesting excursion into the spy genre. The basic idea of a teen spy with an uncle in the same profession was done years ago, first as books then, later, as an animated series. However, Stormbreaker is considerably more serious than either of the linked examples, though it does still have a sense of humour.

Alex Rider is the teen spy in question. In the wake of his uncle's death, Alex is inducted into MI6 and sent to investigate computer mogul Darrius Sayle who, in typical Bond fashion, has a nefarious plot in mind. There's nothing particularly different about the proceedings standard spy fare, truth be told but everything is pulled of with a panache not seen in this genre in a long while.

Casting-wise, newcomer Alex Pettyfer holds his own on screen next to Ewan McGregor, Mickey Rourke, Bill Nighy, Robby Coltrane, Steven Fry and Alicia Silverstone a fairly 'heavyweight' cast and no mean feat for a young actor in his first role. Pettyfer is well suited to the role of Alex Rider, though perhaps a little too old his voice certainly sounds a lot deeper than your average 14 year old. Though the heroic characters are played straight and serious, the villains get a bit hammy at times and wander into the realms of camp, with some of Sayle's henchmen feeling as if they stepped straight out of Austin Powers.

Yes, Stormbreaker wants to be the new Harry Potter with some Spy Kids thrown in (and I can see sequels generating buzz based on which noted actors will be playing the adults, much as each new teacher at Hogwarts does) but overall, it is impressively ambitious and makes excellent use of its budget, proudly standing up to any Hollywood action movie. It's not genre-redefining but it could be genre-revitalising well worth investing a couple of hours in at least. It'll be interesting to see what the box office is like when it hits the US though can America handle kiddy action heroes with an English accent?

New DVD Picks for 24/07/06

Maid Marian and her Merry Men Season 2

Maid Marian was one of the most enjoyable comedies the BBC has ever put out and even though it was originally aimed at kids, it's become a cult favourite since. Being a BBC sitcom, the entirety of the second series is only six episodes but the audio commentaries and interactive game should add some re-watch potential.

.Hack//Legend of the Twilight #1

One of the more ambitious multimedia experiments in recent years, .Hack is a manufactured phenomenon in the anime world. Spanning anime, manga, novels, video games and even card games, .Hack is, in the broadest terms possible, about an online RPG and the characters inhabiting it. Legend of the Twilight is my personal favourite of the anime iterations, with interesting characters and some neat story twists along the way.

Dark Season

Once, I saw a BBC kids show about an alien computer under a school. I could never remember what it was called - in fact, my main memory of it was the aforementioned computer, a young Kate Winslet and how whatever this mystery show was had scared me senseless. As it turns out, that show was Dark Season, Russell T. Davies' first TV show. I'm presuming the BBC is releasing this now to capitalise on Davies' ascendant star, post-New Who, and can only thank them for that. Slightly shoddy effects aside, this is great TV sci-fi and well worth checking out. And it still scares me.

That's it for this week. Thoughts? Comments? Hatemail? Contact me at mattkamen@gmail.com