SPECTRE
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: November 6, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
60
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 48 Critic Reviews
Positive:
28
Mixed:
16
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleNov 4, 2015
One of the great satisfactions of Spectre is that, in addition to all the stirring action, and all the timely references to a secret organization out to steal everyone’s personal information, we get to believe in Bond as a person. Read full review
100
The TelegraphRobbie CollinOct 21, 2015
It’s a feat of pure cinematic necromancy. Read full review
100
The GuardianPeter BradshawOct 21, 2015
It’s deeply silly but uproariously entertaining. At the end, I almost felt guilty for enjoying it all quite so much - almost. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversNov 4, 2015
Craig puts heat and heart into Spectre, as if he's taken Bond as far he can. The movie is a fever dream of all the Bond villains and all of Bond's efforts to see a life past them. Read full review
80
TimeJoe NeumaierNov 6, 2015
This sophisticated sugar rush is the longest Bond film ever, but it cruises by with an elegant sense of danger. As with all of Daniel Craig’s 007 outings, it amps up the intelligence and tamps down the attitude. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsStephen Whitty Nov 4, 2015
Craig is cruelly efficient. Dave Bautista makes a good, Oddjob-like assassin. And while Lea Seydoux doesn’t leave a huge impression as this film’s “Bond girl,” perhaps it’s because we’ve already met — far too briefly — the hypnotic Monica Bellucci, as the first real “Bond woman” since Diana Rigg. Read full review
80
Total FilmNeil SmithOct 22, 2015
Though not as dramatically rich or emotionally compelling as Skyfall, Spectre still ranks as a sleek, pulse-pounding if slightly overlong entertainment. Read full review
80
EmpireKim NewmanOct 22, 2015
Even if this is less satisfying overall than Skyfall, there are sequences that rank with Bond’s best. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorNov 5, 2015
A Bond movie is all about delivering on expectations: to enjoy it you have to be pleased rather than frustrated by its predictability. In that regard, Spectre, Daniel Craig’s fourth outing as Bond and the second directed by Sam Mendes, can be deemed a solid success: not as darkly stylish as "Skyfall" but not as stupidly grim as "Quantum of Solace" either. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliNov 5, 2015
Spectre is the most “traditional” of the Craig Bonds. Although a little light on gadgets, it has everything else, Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaNov 5, 2015
It's business as usual, even if that business is pulled off with brilliant precision, ingeniously choreographed action, and an itinerary boasting some of the most photogenic spots on Earth. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonNov 5, 2015
Spectre isn’t bad — just slightly disappointing. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperNov 3, 2015
This is the 24th Bond film and it ranks solidly in the middle of the all-time rankings, which means it’s still a slick, beautifully photographed, action-packed, international thriller with a number of wonderfully, ludicrously entertaining set pieces, a sprinkling of dry wit, myriad gorgeous women and a classic psycho-villain who is clearly out of his mind but seems to like it that way. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsNov 3, 2015
For all its workmanlike devotion to out-of-control helicopters, “Spectre” works best when everyone’s on the ground, doing his or her job, driving expensive fast cars heedlessly, detonating the occasional wisecrack, enjoying themselves and their beautiful clothes. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony LaneNov 9, 2015
Anyone who has tamped down that youthful yen for excitement should stay away. But the craving for grownup glamour, however foolish, demands equal satisfaction, and Spectre, in providing it, acquires a throb of mystery that cannot be explained by mere plot. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNov 5, 2015
The new James Bond movie Spectre makes a satisfying final chapter to the four-film saga of Daniel Craig’s 007, even if that saga turns out to be less than the sum of its parts. Read full review
70
NPRBob MondelloNov 5, 2015
It remains a decently robust and entertaining midlevel Bond movie — just one that's haunted by the specter of its predecessor. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzNov 4, 2015
Spectre is still fun, the cast is top-flight. And had it been the first Bond film with Craig in the title role, the reaction likely would be "wow!" This is some good stuff, way deeper than the silly Bonds. But with history behind us, it feels a little slight. Read full review
70
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekNov 3, 2015
In the end, Spectre is just too much of a good thing. Though each scene is carefully wrought, there's little grace, majesty, or romance in the way the pieces are connected. The whole is bumpy and inelegant — entertaining for sure, but hard to love. Read full review
70
VarietyGuy LodgeOct 21, 2015
What’s missing is the unexpected emotional urgency of “Skyfall,” as the film sustains its predecessor’s nostalgia kick with a less sentimental bent. Read full review
70
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganOct 21, 2015
Bond has seen it all before, this team has done it all before, and the production juggernaut hits every beat with a carefully calibrated precision which can be deeply satisfying but also risk coming across as rote. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianJeff BakerNov 5, 2015
Not bad, no need to wake Roger Moore from his mid-morning nap and bring him out of retirement, but not special. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyNov 4, 2015
It’s possible that Skyfall created expectations that were too high for Spectre to match. But with all he’s done for the franchise, Craig deserves to go out with a bigger, smarter bang. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Nov 3, 2015
What Spectre lacks is the sinister magnetic pull of Skyfall, a Bond movie with real stakes and attitude and distinctive flavor, not to mention more mesmeric images than one can usually expect from this workmanlike blockbuster franchise. Read full review
65
TheWrapWendy IdeOct 22, 2015
Spectre is a frustratingly unsatisfying experience. Read full review
63
USA TodayBrian TruittNov 4, 2015
The clichéd ghosts of James Bond past haunt Spectre, an action adventure whose biggest failure is looking back on 007’s own success. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineJake ColeNov 3, 2015
All of its revisionism centrally incorporates the history of the franchise, and the film both excels and suffers for frequently recalling its forbears. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzNov 3, 2015
It's filled with big sets, big stunts, and what ought to be big moments, but few of them land. Read full review
60
SlateIsaac ChotinerNov 6, 2015
If Spectre has any saving grace, it’s Craig, who remains the best non-Connery Bond. It is not merely his physical presence, which is formidable enough; he has a unique ability to make peevishness dramatically compelling. And the subtlety of his sense of humor is one of the better aspects of his 007. Read full review
60
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottNov 3, 2015
Granted, there's comfort to be found in the familiarity of Mendes' film, which makes an effort to look back while also advancing the series. But there's a fine line between paying homage to the past and merely repeating it.... Spectre often crosses that line. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterStephen DaltonOct 21, 2015
The first act is great, full of dark portent and bravura film-making flourishes. However, the final hour disappoints, with too many off-the-peg plot twists and too many characters conforming to type. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonOct 21, 2015
An unbalanced but never less than entertaining film, enthralling and deflating in roughly equal measure, and studded with moments of true, old-school glory. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerNov 6, 2015
Even a subpar James Bond movie is worth seeing because, well, it’s James Bond. But if one of the most successful and long-running franchises in movie history wants to keep pumping, it’s once again time to change the formula. Read full review
50
ObserverRex ReedNov 5, 2015
Despite a plot trajectory that changes so often they seem to be making it up as they go along, everyone on and off the screen seems to be doing it by the numbers. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla DargisNov 5, 2015
There’s nothing surprising in Spectre, the 24th “official” title in the series, which is presumably as planned. Much as the perfect is the enemy of good, originality is often the enemy of the global box office. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezNov 5, 2015
Familiarity is not without its pleasures. But Spectre is so confused and inert that Craig can’t even sell the signature “Bond. James Bond” and “Shaken, not stirred” lines. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 4, 2015
Spectre, set up to be the Daniel Craig finale as Bond, isn’t a terrible installment in the franchise. It’s the lightest of the Craig Bonds — no sin in that. But like the end of Connery, the exit of Roger Moore and the layoff notice given Pierce Brosnan, it’s a tired, trite “greatest hits” re-packaging of stunts, chases and fights from earlier, better Bonds. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrNov 4, 2015
I know the opening credits for a James Bond movie are supposed to be silly, but the start of Spectre achieves almost orgasmic levels of kitsch. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiNov 4, 2015
A drab, anemic machine, Spectre, may bring the spectacle, but it lacks a soul. Someone get Idris Elba on the phone. Read full review
42
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallNov 3, 2015
Watching Spectre unfold, lumbering and slumbering, on the heels of a franchise high is a shock, so much talent coasting this time. Read full review
42
HitfixDrew McWeenyNov 3, 2015
They have tried, with this Daniel Craig run of films, to elevate the Bond movies so they are more than just acceptably silly spy movies, and one of the reasons SPECTRE is so frustrating is because it feels like the collapse of that ambition, and it is in one moment that you can see the entire thing burn to the ground. Read full review
42
The PlaylistOliver LytteltonOct 21, 2015
In general, this feels like a film patched together out of endless hastily-drafted script rewrites rather than a cohesive vision. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranNov 4, 2015
Yes, some of the individual stunts and action set pieces temporarily hold our interest...but the story itself is not convincing on its own terms, playing like a series of boxes (Bond asking for a martini shaken not stirred) that need to be checked off and forgotten. Read full review
40
CineVueJoe WalshOct 22, 2015
Like Skyfall, Spectre is loaded with allusions to the previous films in the franchise, undoubtedly providing much glee for Bond fans. The nods, quips, and general formula that audiences have come to know soon becomes weary and tiring, however. Read full review
38
New York PostLou LumenickNov 5, 2015
“A license to kill is also a license to not kill,” M lectures his new boss in the 24th James Bond film, Spectre. Well, it’s not a license to bore as much as this bloated drag manages to do. Read full review
38
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanNov 4, 2015
At the center of the film, like a man trying to pull a donkey out of a peat bog, stands Craig: inexpressive, uninflected and obviously tired. Perhaps he’s trying to play a chap who never allows himself access to his emotions, for fear loved ones may be snatched away, but he just looks like an actor who wishes he could quit his job. Read full review
37
Washington PostAnn HornadayNov 5, 2015
We don’t expect a James Bond film to be deep, but at least we should be dazzled by the seductive gloss of its surfaces. Aside from that stunning opening sequence, this installment feels overcompensating and dutiful. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternNov 5, 2015
Perhaps some of the goofiness was intentional — you can’t always tell from this production’s wavering tone — but Spectre is full of not-good things, and some oppressively bad things that may come to feel like drill bits twirling in your skull. Read full review
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