The November Man

Believe it or not, I grew up seeing Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. As silly as some of those movies were, I thought Brosnan was a really great choice for the role, mainly because that was how I was introduced to the character. When Craig came in, I thought it was quite a different take on the character and I couldn't help but compare the interpretation of the role as very Bourne-like. Which is fine, I like Bourne, and I've actually really come to love Daniel Craig's Bond, but I've always wanted the Bond series to go back to the over the top cheesy Bond movies they used to be. If you read my review of Mission Impossible, you probably saw the trailer for Spectre. Spectre could be that film.

But I digress.

I kind of wonder if Brosnan ever thought that he got a little slighted after he was replaced as Bond. I don't know the exact circumstances as to which he left the part but it probably had to do with the fact that Brosnan was getting old, and he had already done it for four movies.

But I think it had a little bit to do with the fact that Die Another Day did not go over very well. As far as the movie going audience went, the cheesy spy movie that Bond was was no longer popular.

On top of that, that same year, a little movie called, The Bourne Identity came out and really changed the way spy movies are made.

Suddenly, Daniel Craig's Bond is more gritty, more down to earth, and while he looks good in a tux, he's a little bit more realistic.

So why am I ranting on about Pierce Brosnan as Bond? Well I think November Man is a look into a James Bond movie if Brosnan had stuck around for that realistic "reboot".

The November Man follows the story of Peter Devereaux (played by Brosnan). He's a retired CIA agent living the retired life. That is until his old boss pulls him out of retirement for "one last job".

I'll get it out of the way. The set up for this plot is incredibly cliched. Again, its the old man coming out of retirement because he's either the expert or he is personally connected to the case. He's brought in to bring in a CIA contact who has been undercover within the Russian government, spying on the soon to be President.

Things go awry however when Devereaux goes to pick up the contact. He not only meets opposition from the Russians, but the CIA itself as they have no knowledge of Devereaux's involvement.

And of course, the point man on the CIA team is Devereaux's former parter and protege, David Mason (played by Luke Bracey). And I will talk about his and Devereaux's relationship later in the review.

From there, Devereaux begins an investigation into a conspiracy involving the CIA, the Russian President, and a lot of shit in between. To do this, he must find a witness to the conspiracy (played by Olga Kurylenko) and protect her, all while playing cat and mouse with his former student, and his former agency. There is a Russian hitwoman going after them, but she honestly shows up three times... she's not an important part of the story.

This movie is a combination Pierce Brosnan trying to become Bond again, and him trying to revitalize his career, the same way Liam Neeson did with Taken. There is something about older men who never really got into the mainstream action movies back in the 80s coming back with a vengeance and producing all these kick ass one man army films. Neeson is doing it, now Brosnan. Denzel Washington is flirting with the idea with movies like The Equalizer and Safe House. Even Costner is kind of doing it.

Does Brosnan still have it though? Well... sorta?

He's not bad. It is kind of interesting to see him in a gritty down to earth spy film. As much as he was the model for me for James Bond, he never really reached the level of grittiness that Craig did. In simplest terms, I feel like Daniel Craig is incredibly agile and isn't afraid to get down in the dirt, while Brosnan was your more suave and smooth Bond. He looked better in a tux and they utilized that in the films.

So it is kind of interesting seeing him do more Bourne-like action. Odd thing is, he's in a suit half the time so he's still that posh Bond I remember him.

His nemesis throughout the film is just kind of bland. I don't know Luke Bracey that much but he didn't really bring anything incredibly new to this movie. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good. The weird part is that he's really not "the bad guy" in the film. The CIA isn't really "the bad guy". Now that I've slept on it a little bit, I actually kind of like who turns out to be the bad guy in the film.

The main problem I had with Luke Bracey's character, Mason was his relationship with Devereaux.

I mean Devereaux is trying to evade the CIA, he's trying to evade everyone else, and instead of actually doing that, he just kind of fucks with Mason. There's suppose to be this father-son, mentor-mentee relationship between the two, which is fine, but there's also this big conspiracy going on and these two are playing mind games with each other.

On top of that, Devereaux does some stuff that is kind of dark in this film. He shows up at Mason's house after Mason has just slept with this woman he kind of likes, and threatens this woman. All to teach Mason a lesson we learn Devereaux didn't follow himself. Putting aside how I'm not sure it contributed to the plot, it was a really dark moment for Devereaux, who despite having a couple moments where he goes pretty dark, he's never been THAT dark.

It made me think of movies like Taken, and the last season of 24. Both Mills and Bauer were dark, but it was for a reason. Brian Mills shows up at his friend's house looking for information and shoots his friend's wife to get information. At the end of Live Another Day, Jack goes on a rampage because he believes someone he loves is dead. Why does Devereaux do all this dark stuff? Honestly, I think its cause they needed to make Brosnan legitimate so he could get another deal for another movie and continue this old man rampage film streak.

But onto some good things about the film. Olga Kurylenko actually surprised me and was pretty good in this film. She kind of reminded me of a role that Catherine Zeta Jones would have played if she was younger.

I remember in 2007-2008, Kurylenko really made her American film debut with three movies that really didn't do that well, Hitman, Quantum of Solace, and Max Payne.

I had seen her in some movies here and there but she wasn't in nearly as much force as she was in those two years. Its good to see that perhaps she has refocused her efforts and picking roles that are actually good.

And this one is pretty good. I liked her in this film, at least more than I've liked her before and maybe it might lead to smarter roles, maybe it won't. I won't hold my breath quite yet, this movie isn't THAT good.

But some other good things are the action. I like Brosnan in it, and now that I've thought about it, the film does end pretty well. The bad guy is revealed, the conspiracy is revealed, and the good guys ride off into the sunset, probably for a sequel according to Brosnan.

Unfortunately, the movie is a little bit of a mess.

Its an international spy thriller movie and those seem to do well no matter what. But the movie itself is just all over the place, the characters are mostly mediocre, and while the ending is alright, its not a movie I'm going to remember in a couple days.

Oh and the reason its called The November Man is really stupid. Its only brought up at the end and I thought it was kind of dumb to call a movie that just because that used to be his name back when he worked for the CIA.

Sorry Pierce, but for me, you're not quite a memorable old guy on a rampage than others. Better luck next time?

But those are my thoughts on The November Man. What did you think of the film? Comment and Discuss below! Or shoot me a tweet on Twitter @cmhaugen24 and follow me to get movie updates and reviews.

I'll leave you with this. Oddly enough, since his departure from Bond, I think I've associated Pierce Brosnan more with Mamma Mia unfortunately... a god awful movie that I will not torture you with any kind of clip, but here's a Superbowl Ad Brosnan did a while back that is kind of funny. Enjoy!