The November Man
Directed by: Roger Donaldson
Written by: Michael Finch & Karl Gajdusek - based on the book "There Are No Spies" by Bill Granger
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Luke Bracey, Olga Kurylenko, Bill Smitrovich, Amila Terzimehic, Lazar Ristovski, Mediha Musliovic, Eliza Taylor, Caterina Scorsone, Will Patton
Action/Crime/Thriller - 108 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 28 Aug 2014
Written by: Michael Finch & Karl Gajdusek - based on the book "There Are No Spies" by Bill Granger
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Luke Bracey, Olga Kurylenko, Bill Smitrovich, Amila Terzimehic, Lazar Ristovski, Mediha Musliovic, Eliza Taylor, Caterina Scorsone, Will Patton
Action/Crime/Thriller - 108 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 28 Aug 2014
Spy thrillers, while limited by genre boundaries, still come in quite a few shapes and sizes. There is the old veteran who teaches the newbie the ropes, the grizzled grey beard called back in from retirement for one last job, the guy who must recruit a new team to accomplish an impossible mission, and they usually involve a mysterious seductress whom you are not quite sure you can trust. The November Man cherry picks a few of these ingredients and paints by numbers the rest of the way. It will give you your spy thriller fix but not much more as it safely treads water declining the opportunity to venture beyond its borders.
Pete Devereaux (Pierce Brosnan, 2014’s A Long Way Down) is a bit too old and way too savvy to be a martial arts machine, Jason Bourne type. He is also not James Bond; he operates with a much lower profile and prefers the company of a reliable pistol over any other gee-whiz gadgets. Pete has seen it all; there appears to be no situation he can walk into his master tradecraft skillset has not prepared him for. After an early incident motivates his retirement to a Swiss lake hideaway, is anyone surprised when his old boss comes calling to coerce him back in for a job only he can do? Pete’s personal femme fatale is under cover in Moscow and needs retrieving. Before he can spirit her away, there are double and maybe even triple crosses for Pete to navigate.
Pete Devereaux (Pierce Brosnan, 2014’s A Long Way Down) is a bit too old and way too savvy to be a martial arts machine, Jason Bourne type. He is also not James Bond; he operates with a much lower profile and prefers the company of a reliable pistol over any other gee-whiz gadgets. Pete has seen it all; there appears to be no situation he can walk into his master tradecraft skillset has not prepared him for. After an early incident motivates his retirement to a Swiss lake hideaway, is anyone surprised when his old boss comes calling to coerce him back in for a job only he can do? Pete’s personal femme fatale is under cover in Moscow and needs retrieving. Before he can spirit her away, there are double and maybe even triple crosses for Pete to navigate.
Pete’s old protégé, Mason (Luke Bracey, 2013’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation), the agent he personally raised from a young pup, shows up with what looks like a couple dozen other agents. Isn’t everyone on the same team here; specifically Team CIA? Set mostly in Belgrade, The November Man morphs from traditional thriller into a mystery as Russian assassins, the CIA, and Pete all comb the city for a girl who has certain information that could affect nothing less than the global balance of power between East and West.
Standard in most spy movies, there are some noticeable plot holes hanging around which are best ignored if you want to immerse yourself deeper into the plot and action scenes. Why are Belgrade-based CIA agents scurrying around Moscow? How does Pete, cut off from all intelligence sources, repeatedly find Top Secret hideouts and safe houses? Plot holes come with the territory when cutting edge spies are involved. It’s up to you how much they affect your viewing experience.
The November Man is adapted from Bill Granger’s book, “There Are No Spies” and is the seventh installment of a long series following the character Pete Devereaux. There are a few engaging antagonists to focus on including a powerful Russian politician (Lazar Ristovski) and his loyal and lethal pet assassin (Amila Terzimehic) but director Roger Donaldson chooses to craft The November Man mostly as American spy vs. spy. Who will win between the old dog who taught the new dog all of his tricks? The cat and mouse game between Devereaux and Mason is suspenseful now and again when they are on foot blasting a path through Belgrade but it is ho-hum business as usual when they resort to hand-to-hand combat exchanging insults.
The familiar spy platitudes and pontifications concerning what sort of human you morph into after so many killings are almost enough to sink the film. I am all for philosophical introspection for those with a license to kill, but at least put some heavy lifting behind the moral crises instead of employing it as a gap filler between shoot outs. The film’s climax also springs a speech of awkward reasoning on the audience straight out of left field that earlier exposition and revelations did not prepare us very well for.
I hesitate to recommend The November Man, a title which is only explained at the very last minute and lacks any impact whatsoever, but gosh darn it, I love spy thrillers, even if they lean toward forgettable. I do not expect to remember too much about Pierce Brosnan’s new action hero. He is not Bond and he is not Bourne; he occupies a lesser tier, but one I am willing to visit every now and again between superior spy films like Argo and A Most Wanted Man.
I hesitate to recommend The November Man, a title which is only explained at the very last minute and lacks any impact whatsoever, but gosh darn it, I love spy thrillers, even if they lean toward forgettable. I do not expect to remember too much about Pierce Brosnan’s new action hero. He is not Bond and he is not Bourne; he occupies a lesser tier, but one I am willing to visit every now and again between superior spy films like Argo and A Most Wanted Man.
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