The November Man: No good No-vember

The November Man

We are in the month of August, folks. Schools getting ready to start. Traffics about to get even heavier. It’s depressing. To make matters worst, it’s the end of the summer season for film. Things start to look lack luster. It’s like the herald for fall. Dead movies are here and here come the dead leaves. This week proves. Here’s The November Man (starring Pierce Brosnan, Luke Bracey, Olga Kurylenko) movie review.

A film even Steele couldn’t save

The November Man starts off well enough in the thick of the action, but I often felt as though they used action to avoid telling a better story. Think of it like this: you have a favorite show you watch and the main story arc has you glued to your seat. You come in for next weeks episode only to get filler (an episode that deals with an unrelated part of the main arc). That’s how I can describe The November Man.

I can see what was attempted here, and it was a nice attempt to get back to the old school spy thriller. It in no way came up to the standards of a Bourne film, Mission Impossible, or even a Bond film (considering Brosnan played bond in GoldenEye, a movie that spawned one of the greatest games on N64… I digress). What they missed here was story, engaging characters, and either a few more beautiful shots or gritty underworlds in exotic locations. They could’ve gave us the spy life, instead we got a film not even Remington Steele could save.

What’s sad about The November Man, is that Pierce Brosnan actually gives a solid performance. I felt like he was the only one giving it his all while everyone else meandered about reciting their lines. This was definitely a situation where the lead did the best he could with the role but there wasn’t much to begin with.

Another Actor in the film that I liked, but was completely under utilized was Will Patton. You’d think that with all the work that he’s done, they’d give him more screen time. There’s was one character that he should have been but wasn’t. It would have made perfect sense to make him the villain and they didn’t. In the end, a bad decision.

Meager Support

Luke Bracey plays the young agent that Brosnan trained and is now hunting him. While Bracey definitely has the ability in his action sequences, dramatically, he lacks. It explains his ability in the barely passable G.I. Joe sequel as Cobra Commander, and also makes me worry about the upcoming Point Break reboot, since he’s going to be leading it.

I’ve never been a fan of Olga Kurylenko. Of her work I’ve seen her in 3 films:

1. Quantum of Solace: My least favorite of the Daniel Craig Bond films
2. Hitman… which was just awful once you digest the movie.
3. And Max Payne… just why? why???

These films were bad on there own, and Kurylenko really didn’t add anything to them, which makes my indifference to her talent valid.

The Verdict

Overall, I’d say The November Man a look, but only when it comes out to RedBox. Even then, don’t be late spend the dollar, watch the film, and take it back. The only thing that I liked about it was that they got an opportunity to use a drone to do some of the filming. I’d be lying if I told you this was movie that you should see in theaters.