Film Review: ‘The November Man’ a Stealthy Late-Summer Spy Thriller

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CHICAGO – “The November Man” is better than its bland title and late August release date would suggest. It’s no gem, but it gets as far as it does almost solely on the strength of Pierce Brosnan’s breezy performance as an ex-CIA agent called back into duty for one last job.

Rating: 3.0/5.0

Brosnan has played so many spies over his career he wears the hard-drinking-womanizing-secret-agent character like a second skin, but it’s telling that he manages to still look like he’s having a ball doing it. Here he gently tweaks his own secret agent image, and manages to infuse some of the script’s sub-James Bond one liners with a charm they wouldn’t have otherwise. For example, while interrogating a Russian suspect, he pulls out a revolver, spins the wheel and says, “we’re going to play a game, which I believe was developed in your country.”

After a botched mission that ends in the death of a child, Brosnan’s Peter Devereaux quits the spy game and retires to the shores of Switzerland. Then an old CIA crony comes calling with an offer he can’t refuse. He goes back into Moscow – looking suspiciously like Belgrade – to extract a CIA operative who also happens to be a former lover. Meanwhile, a former protégé is assigned to take her out. It doesn’t take long for him to realize he’s landed in a shadowy mess of double crosses and intrigue with a changing roster of players. whose trustworthiness is dubious at best no matter which side they are supposedly on.

Continue reading for Spike Walters’ full review of “The November Man”

Brosnan, Pierce Brosnan: The Title Character in ‘The November Man’
Photo credit: Relativity Media

Continue reading for Spike Walters’ full review of “The November Man”