The November Man
Pierce Brosnan is a personal favourite, so I hope I’ll be forgiven for picking this film to review for this week’s column.
This is a spy, action film, adapted from the book There are No Spies, by Bill Granger and directed by Roger Donaldson, who had scouted other locations but was so impressed with Serbia that he shot the film there.
Like any spy film, it has action, chases, gunfights, killing, sex scenes and surprise—I loved it.
The film opens in 2008, with Brosnan (Peter Devereaux) aka The November Man, and former agent, retired in Switzerland. He’s given an assignment too personal to ignore. Nedless to say, what starts out as a slam dunk turns into much more.
In addition to Brosnan, no other big names are present; Luke Bracy is Mason; Olga Kurylenko is Alice, and there are no big special effects but there are so many elaborate stunts that award-winning stunt coordinator Mark Mottran (who worked on three Bond films with Pierce) brought 30 Serbians and Russians to join the British team.
The film also provides a few little known facts, such as: A bullet travels at 4,000 feet per second. Who knew?
And such dialogue as: “Are all your friends trying to kill you?” “Eventually.”
This doesn’t have a lot cinematographic tricks, but it is a couple of hours of gritty entertainment and is well worth seeing if you’re a fan of this genre.
And while Pierce is a little older (odd because I’m the same age as when he was in the first Bond film) he’s still pretty darn good!
I give The November Man four reels out of five.
