Since his stint as James Bond ended, Pierce Brosnan has seemed to do an awful lot of dramas and romantic “comedies” so I was excited to see his return to a spy-thriller. And The November Man started out well. For the first half of the film, it is full of action, double agents, and a real wonder of who is on who’s side and what mastermind is behind it all. Unfortunately the film really falls apart in the end, by which point you’ve all ready deduced the real “surprises.”
Brosnan plays a retired CIA agent who is pulled in to get info from one of his former colleagues. When that person ends up dead at the hands of the CIA themselves, Brosnan is left to wonder who is giving the orders, and ends up in an international hunt for the one person who may have the answers. When he finds her, he spends the rest of the movie trying to keep her alive long enough to get the truth from her.
Parts of this movie really rubbed me the wrong way. You spend much of the movie rooting for Brosnan as you think he was roped into this game, but then when he starts doing despicable things you are left wondering who you should be behind as a viewer. Not to mention some of the main characters change allegiance so many times, that by the end I was more confused than in the beginning. A very bad ending ruined what started out as a lot of promise. The only highlight was (parts of) Brosnan’s performance. Even at his age, he can still play the action movie star well.
Jons Movie Takes 