IMDb TV's Alex Rider is a fun series and the latest book adaptation for TV following a box office failure

The Hollywood Reporter

"Hollywood accounting ledgers are packed with presumptive film franchises that, owing to fickle audiences (and cinematic flaws), barely started (Eragon, The Golden Compass) or never finished (The Chronicles of Narnia, Divergent)," says Daniel Fienberg. "As it does with all things entertainment, TV has been picking up the slack. His Dark Materials is chugging along at HBO and the BBC, Chronicles of Narnia has had a TV series in development at Netflix for a while and, after failing on the big screen, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events was reconceived at Netflix to general acclaim. By almost any standard, 2006's Stormbreaker (or Alex Rider: Stormbreaker in the United States) was a disaster. The feature adaptation of Anthony Horowitz's well-liked espionage saga failed to make back even a modest budget and earned reviews that, at best, called the star-studded — Ewan McGregor! Damian Lewis! Alicia Silverstone! Mickey Rourke! Bill Nighy! — movie 'forgettable.' Welcome to the streaming revolution, Alex Rider. The new TV series bearing the teenage spy's name premieres on Friday on Amazon's IMDb TV platform and it has already been renewed for a second season, meaning that audiences can feel some liberty to get invested. And as for the series itself? It's fine! The decision was made to double down on exposition for this reintroduction to Alex Rider and his undercover world, which leads to long stretches of narrative clunkiness. But it feels like a reasonable eight-episode set-up for a fun series. Plus, maybe if people tune in for this launch, somebody will see fit to give the budget a necessary boost."

ALSO:

• Alex Rider gets Anthony Horowitz's books right: "While this is a spy thriller, a young James Bond, all the usual descriptors — it is, above all, the story of a boy whose childhood is ripped away from him," says Proma Khosla. "Each mission leaves Alex physically and emotionally scarred, and the series (which has been picked up for a second season) shows no sign of shying away from that. MI6 are not good people, and the way they manipulate Alex is meant to cause discomfort."
• Alex Rider is the rare show that doesn’t indulge in flashbacks, but a few glimpses into Alex’s past would have been beneficial