Review of The November Man (2014) by Patrick L — 22 Dec 2014

"Pierce Brosnan revisits his James Bond days in an ugly fashion.".

Movie Review: The November Man.

Date Viewed: August 30 2014.

Directed By Roger Donaldson (No Way Out, Dante's Peak, The Recruit, The Bank Job, Species and Seeking Justice).

Screenplay By Michael Finch and Karl Gajdusek, Based on the novel "There Are No Spies" by Bill Granger.

Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Luke Bracey, Olga Kurylenko, Caterina Scorsone, Eliza Taylor,.

Bill Smitrovich and Will Patton.

What an unpleasant movie this is. "The November Man" is an incomprehensible spy thriller filled with tired cliches, plot holes and terrible dialogue. Pierce Brosnan returns to his James Bond days in an ugly fashion. The women in this film are almost entirely treated as sex objects or hookers for men to play off of. This is the second clunky action thriller in a row for director Roger Donaldson, who used to be hot in the 1980s. Donaldson knows how to make that movie but "The November Man" is no Jason Bourne.

"The November Man" stars Brosnan as Peter Devereaux, a former CIA agent who is now living a quiet life in Switzerland. Devereaux gets a call from his former boss, Hanley (Bill Smitrovich) and he wants to recruit him for, you guessed this old movie chess nut, one last mission. How Original! Devereaux must track down his former protege Mason (Luke Bracey) and protect refugee case worker Alice Fournier (Olga Kurylenko). Soon, Devereaux and Fournier are being hunted by assassins and Mason's CIA team.

As you would expect, Devereaux doesn't trust anybody and Fournier wants to write an expose on Russian President Arkady Federov (Lazar Ristovski) and his alleged war crimes during the second Chechen War.

Not only were her parents murdered by Federov, Fournier also claims that the presdient sexually abused her. Devereaux will do his best to protect her because he has a set of skills and CIA station chief Perry Weinstein (Will Patton) wants Mason to track him down.

"The November Man" is based on a series of novels by Bill Granger and why is Peter Devereaux code named The November Man? He is called that because "after he passes through, nothing lives". Now I know why. "The November Man" may have attractive people but the screenplay by Michael Finch and Karl Gajdusek is not original and the dialogue is spoken by guys who are desperately trying to be tough and sound tough.

Austrailan director Roger Donaldson is still good a filmmaker. "No Way Out" (starring Kevin Costner and Gene Hackman) was a terrific political thriller, "The Bounty" (starring Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins) was a high-spirited historical adventure and "The Bank Job" (starring Jason Statham) was a terrific heist movie. He's had a few missteps as well but Donaldson is still capable of making good films. "The November Man" is as dumb and generic as it sounds. For somebody who used to play 007, Pierce Brosnan deserves way better than this.