| 75 |
Chicago Tribune
Michael Esposito
It's better than some James Bond movies--no matter what your age.
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| 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.
|
| 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.
|
| 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.
|
| 63 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
Taken for what it is - 'tweenage escapism - Stormbreaker is moderately fun.
|
| 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.
|
| 58 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sean Axmaker
A bland Bond.
|
| 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.
|
| 50 |
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Sax keeps things moving, but the best thing about the film is the British cast.
|
| 50 |
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Keith Phipps
Rourke's hammy, eyeliner-enhanced acting alone almost makes Alex Rider worth a look.
|
| 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.
|
| 40 |
The Hollywood Reporter
Ray Bennett
A lame and disappointing affair.
|
| 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.
|
| 38 |
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
This lame teenage James Bond will leave audiences neither shaken nor stirred.
|
| 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.
|
| 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.
|
| 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.
|
| 30 |
LA Weekly
Luke Y. Thompson
It's ostensibly an action movie, and the action is so poorly shot as to be embarrassing.
|
| 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.
|
| 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.
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