The November Man is an odd hodgepodge of a spy thriller. The Pierce Brosnan vehicle veers wildly between James Bond and Jason Bourne. It is sometimes thrilling, often comic, and ultimately unfulfilling.
The film opens with a shot of trainee agent Mason making out hard with a young woman. Luke Bracey, former Australian soap opera star now making his way in Hollywood, plays Mason. The kissing gets interrupted by the stern, gruff mentor Devereaux, played by James Bond/Mamma Mia star Pierce Brosnan. Devereaux scolds him on his romantic entanglement: "You want a relationship? Get a dog."
The next few beats try to establish a capital "r" Relationship between these two fellows, so we care when they're pitted against each other later in the film. They fail to do so, and it colors the rest of the movie. They don't seem to have some sort of deeply emotional, loving relationship. They share one exchange of verbal jabs in a car ride, which ends with Pierce Brosnan telling Bracey to sit on his raised middle finger and twist"”a line that Brosnan seems unable to commit to over his long-honed gentility. It leaves later scenes of Mason in hysterics over a "betrayal" from Devereaux feeling awkward.
Then they arrive at the mission, and, in the first of many clichés, Devereaux is arguing with Mason over whether to "take the shot!" Mason disobeys orders and ends up killing a little boy. This moment is meant to tear our hearts out of our chests, throw them on the ground, and stomp. Unfortunately, it's not clear from the filmmaking that it ever happened. I and my screening companion both thought that the assassin had killed the kid, not Mason. We learned through conversational cues what really happened"”it wasn't clear through visuals. If it seems like accidentally killing a little boy is a blunt emotional move and one that should be hard to mess up, you're right.
These details, both occurring in the first ten minutes of the movie, are examples of The November Man's broader failure to tighten up its story.
While the plot may soon send you out of the film and back into your disenchanted real world, there are still things that made the final hour and a half enjoyable. Some of these things are funny. Pierce Brosnan pauses at random moments in the film to down glass upon glass of scotch. It's unclear whether this is a "character trait" whose explanatory scene got cut from the final film or a riff on James Bond, but the fact that we never get an explanation makes it all the more chuckly.
Some of these things are bizarre, like Mason's romance with the girl next door. She is a sheer, blonde object with a cat. Their sexual tension is gawky. Her existence is either an egregious example of what they call sexism at the movies or a parody of it.
Finally, hats off to whoever put in"”I hesitate to call it a running gag, as once again the intentions make all the difference here"”a series of moments, maybe about six, of someone turning a corner, looking in one direction, and then looking in the other direction right as they get hit in the head with a shovel, lead pipe, or what have you. It's like watching a clown practice double-takes for five minutes.
The November Man is a thriller that hovers just below average. But its quirks might destine it to "movie you love to hate" cult stardom down the road. In that light, you may want to wait twenty years or so.
