LONDON: After a disappointing big-screen outing in 2006 (with the box office bomb that was “Stormbreaker”), Anthony Horowitz’s “Alex Rider” franchise is getting a rare second bite of the cherry as an Amazon Prime series. Perhaps wisely, the show completely disregards the shambolic movie and opts to give the titular teenage spy a fresh origin story in an adaptation of the second book in Horowitz’s anthology, “Point Blanc.”
As the series begins, Alex is a school kid living a relatively normal life (except for the fact he’s an orphan, so lives with his uncle, Ian) in London. His uncle works for a large international bank, so Alex is largely raised by female housekeeper Jack Starbright and spends most of his time with his best friend, Tom. When Ian dies in a car accident, Alex sniffs out a cover up, quickly determining that, in fact, his uncle worked for a subdivision of MI6. The enterprising teenager finds himself recruited by Ian’s employer (headed by Stephen Dillane’s Alan Blunt and Vicky McClure’s Mrs Jones) and dropped undercover into an exclusive corrective academy headed by a professor with decidedly shady intentions.
To be fair to the show’s writers, “Alex Rider” makes no attempt to deny how outlandish its central premise is. And that actually stands the series in good stead, granting lead actor Otto Farrant (putting in a charmingly earnest performance) the space to portray Alex with a sufficient level of incredulity at the shadowy world in which he suddenly finds himself.
‘Alex Rider’ is by Anthony Horowitz. (Supplied)
The result is an entertaining mashup of coming-of-age drama and Bourne-esque spy thriller. It doesn’t try to be a globe-trotting odyssey (like the James Bond movies), nor does it go for the gadget-heavy cartoonish style of “Spy Kids.” Instead, “Alex Rider” walks a tightrope between small-scale, character-driven seriousness and self-aware, world-saving hijinks.
The series stumbles a little when it comes to tone. It veers from remarkably dark (for a story involving kids) to whimsically playful with little or no transition. Furthermore, the excellent Dillane and McClure are woefully underused — although the show seems poised for a second season, so perhaps they’ll get more time to shine.
“Alex Rider” is an entertaining show, with a watchable star and a healthy willingness to poke fun at itself. There’s not even a hint of a nod to it’s earlier cinematic incarnation — and the series is all the better for it.
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