CNET Networks Entertainment GameSpot | GameFAQs | SportsGamer | Metacritic | MP3.com | TV.com
Home | About Metacritic | About Metascores | What's New | Wireless Versions | Discussion Forums | Advertising Inquiries | Contact Us | RSS
Metacritic.com: We Deal With Criticism
     Help
> Switch to Advanced Search  
Film Video/DVD Music Games Books TV
Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums

Film

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

 

Wide Releases

sort by name sort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 

Limited Releases

sort by name sort by score

97 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
83 Alexandra
43 Anamorph
35 Babysitters, The
32 Backseat
80 Band's Visit, The
62 Battle for Haditha
47 Bella
63 Blind Mountain
71 Blindsight
47 Boarding Gate
63 Body of War
58 Bra Boys
70 Caramel
54 Cashback
44 Chaos Theory
32 Chapter 27
69 Chicago 10
82 Chop Shop
46 CJ7
78 Counterfeiters, The
30 Cover
48 Dark Matter
35 Deal
61 Dhamma Brothers, The
92 Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
73 Duchess of Langeais, The
20 Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
58 Fall, The
43 Favor, The
58 First Saturday in May, The
57 Flawless
87 Flight of the Red Balloon, The
xx From Within
44 Frontier(s)
59 Fugitive Pieces
41 Funny Games
66 George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
61 Girls Rock!
55 Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
57 Grand, The
58 Hats Off
68 Honeydripper
xx Jack and Jill vs. the World
67 Jellyfish
xx Kiss the Bride
37 Life Before Her Eyes, The
72 Life of Reilly, The
50 Look
65 Married Life
35 Meet Bill
63 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
54 Mister Lonely
52 My Blueberry Nights
71 My Brother Is an Only Child
52 Noise
61 OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
83 Paranoid Park
55 Pathology
48 Penelope
90 Persepolis
62 Planet B-Boy
xx Plumm Summer, A
67 Praying with Lior
46 Previous Engagement, A
72 Priceless
17 Prom Night
69 Redbelt
72 Roman de gare
48 Run, Fat Boy, Run
85 Savages, The
24 Sex and Death 101
66 Shelter
75 Shotgun Stories
40 Sleepwalking
67 Snow Angels
64 Son of Rambow
71 Standard Operating Procedure
76 Stuff and Dough
64 Surfwise
xx Tashan
82 Taxi to the Dark Side
57 Teeth
56 Then She Found Me
55 Tracey Fragments, The
56 Turn the River
72 Tuya's Marriage
83 U2 3D
59 Under the Same Moon
76 Unforeseen, The
xx Unsettled
91 Up the Yangtze
55 Vice
79 Visitor, The
64 Water Lilies
45 Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?
57 Without the King
74 Witnesses, The
63 XXY
67 Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
75 Young@Heart
45 Zombie Strippers

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.



Stormbreaker
The Weinstein Company

Stormbreaker reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 42 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
3.6 out of 10
based on 20 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 12 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG for sequences of action violence and some peril

Starring Alex Pettyfer, Sarah Bolger, Robbie Coltrane, Stephen Fry, Damian Lewis, Ewan McGregor, Bill Nighy, Sophie Okonedo, Missi Pyle, Mickey Rourke, Andy Serkis, and Alicia Silverstone

Alex Rider (Pettyfer) is a normal teenager who lives with his uncle, a nondescript bank manager. Or so it seems until his uncle, Ian Rider (McGregor), disappears under mysterious circumstances. Alex soon learns that his uncle was a spy for Britain's secret intelligence service, M16 and he is recruited to take on a dangerous mission for them. Within days he's gone from schoolboy to super spy -- but will Alex's first assignment be his last? (The Weinstein Company)


GENRE(S): Action  |  Adventure  |  Family/Kids  
WRITTEN BY: Anthony Horowitz (also novel and story)  
DIRECTED BY: Geoffrey Sax  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: December 19, 2006 
Theatrical: October 13, 2006 
RUNNING TIME: 93 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: Germany / USA / UK 

Also known as "Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker"

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

75
Chicago Tribune Michael Esposito
It's better than some James Bond movies--no matter what your age.
Read Full Review
63
USA Today Staff [Not Credited]
Though the film is not terribly original (and features a jarringly miscast Alicia Silverstone as Alex's nanny), the action scenes are diverting, the veteran cast is amusing and the engaging Pettyfer makes a solid debut.
Read Full Review
63
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Despite a relatively paltry $40 million budget, Stormbreaker has the sheen and special effects of a Bond movie, and the ambition as well.
Read Full Review
63
Boston Globe Wesley Morris
For kids strung out on Anthony Horowitz's 007-lite adventure series, this maiden adaptation is a pleasant enough diversion from having to flip the pages.
Read Full Review
63
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Taken for what it is - 'tweenage escapism - Stormbreaker is moderately fun.
Read Full Review
60
Chicago Reader Joshua Katzman
The nonstop action in this British romp should ensure that its target audience, sugar-buzzed prepubescent boys, stay strapped in their seats.
Read Full Review
58
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
A bland Bond.
Read Full Review
50
The New York Times Nathan Lee
Mr. Pettyfer is no Sean Connery, no Roger Moore, no Pierce Brosnan, no Timothy Dalton and no George Lazenby even, but the director, Geoffrey Sax, compensates for his zero of a hero by indulging the exceedingly amused and amusing supporting cast.
Read Full Review
50
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Sax keeps things moving, but the best thing about the film is the British cast.
Read Full Review
50
The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
Rourke's hammy, eyeliner-enhanced acting alone almost makes Alex Rider worth a look.
Read Full Review
50
Entertainment Weekly Gregory Kirshling
Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker is "Agent Cody Banks" played British and kinda straight -- that is, as straight as you can when your villain, who dispatches foes with a giant jellyfish, is played by a toothpick-chomping Mickey Rourke in purple eye shadow.
Read Full Review
40
The Hollywood Reporter Ray Bennett
A lame and disappointing affair.
Read Full Review
40
Los Angeles Times Mark Olsen
The film is forever trying to balance between being for younger teenagers and keeping their parents occupied as well, and never quite gets it right.
Read Full Review
38
New York Post Lou Lumenick
This lame teenage James Bond will leave audiences neither shaken nor stirred.
Read Full Review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jennie Punter
A British flick based on the first novel in a popular teenage spy-thriller series by Anthony Horowitz, looks promising but, unfortunately, doesn't measure up.
Read Full Review
30
Washington Post Stephen Hunter
Perhaps as a publishing phenomenon the concept works, but on-screen it's pretty dull, with good actors in bad roles and bad special effects.
Read Full Review
30
Variety Derek Elley
A shake 'n' bake Brit teen-spy actioner, without a smidgeon of originality, humor or involving characterization, Stormbreaker is a high-profile bust.
Read Full Review
30
LA Weekly Luke Y. Thompson
It's ostensibly an action movie, and the action is so poorly shot as to be embarrassing.
Read Full Review
25
San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub
While it's filled with quality actors, this James Bond tale for tweens feels like something you should be getting for free on television.
Read Full Review
25
Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
About as clunky as a movie gets. It lurches from scene to scene with no sense of narrative grace, gives its roster of prominent actors nothing to work with and screeches to a halt with all the grace of a sprinter whose shoelaces have been tied together.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 3.6 (out of 10) based on 12 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

[Anonymous] gave it an8:
Okay I so loved this movie and do not know y it got bad reviews. i mean how were they watching the movie anyway with alex pettyfer in it. so i liked it a lot. BUT I SUGGEST U READ THE BOOKS FIRST THEY R SO MUCH BETTER! i promise.

Thomas S. gave it a6:
Seen the movie yesterday on DVD. While it had entertaining moments it didn't feel very cohesive. The movie is clearly aimed at teenagers (which I'm not) and I greatly regret Ewan McGregor's early exit.

Andrew M. gave it a2:
This film is a typically by numbers affair in many respects. The worst aspect is the trite dialogue which is riddled with Alex's cringeworthy one liners. What makes this so unconvincing is the actor himself has the hard-man value of a kitten with three legs. If you can get past this, which I couldn't, there's a possibility you might enjoy it.

Sam gave it a3:
Clichéd, ridiculous, and rancid, Stormbreaker lacks anything that reminds you of the words "Fun" and "full of life"

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page
Home | FILM | DVD/VIDEO | MUSIC | GAMES | BOOKS | TV | Forums | About Metacritic metacritic.com

About CNET Networks | Jobs | Advertise | Partnerships                                Visit other CNET Networks sites:

Copyright ©2007 CNET Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use