Today’s quick review: The November Man. Peter Devereaux (Pierce Brosnan), a former CIA agent, returns from retirement to extract Natalia Ulanova (Mediha Musliovic), Devreaux’s lover and a current CIA asset, from an undercover position that has grown too dangerous. Her undercover work has unearthed the name of a woman who holds the key to controlling Arkady Federov (Lazar Ristovski), the future Russian president. Now Devereaux must go up against David Mason (Luke Bracey), Devereaux’s former student, to find the woman before the CIA does.
The November Man is a spy thriller with a complex plot, a bit of action, and high tension throughout. Pierce Brosnan fills the shoes of Peter Devereaux quite well, a jaded ex-spy who practices detachment as much as possible. Luke Bracey plays his hotheaded student, now a seasoned agent who is eager to prove himself against his former teacher. The nature of the film prevents either character from living up to his full potential. Both characters are mostly amoral, and their limits are difficult to anticipate. They lack the sympathy and the charm needed to be engaging protagonists, and their potent rivalry takes back burner to the rest of the plot.
The best and worst parts of The November Man are its plot. On the one hand, The November Man delivers a complex spy plot full of conflicts of interest, twists, and betrayals. These are the components of the best spy dramas, and they make for an interesting, mysterious story in The November Man. On the other hand, The November Man is unable to fully capitalize on any of the conflicts it sets up. The grey morality makes it unclear whether the audience should be rooting for Devereaux or Mason, while the character arcs are hampered by the lack of any clear point for the characters to grow towards. That just leaves the plot itself as a source of payoff, but the frequent twists prevent any specific conflict from gaining momentum. Every time a revelation sends the plot in a new direction, the stakes are reset. Moments that should feel tense and engrossing just fall flat; the new conflict has not had time to escalate.
Fans of the spy thriller genre may want to give The November Man a shot. It has a few good elements that make it a decent watch, but it fails to build on these elements in any meaningful way. Watch it if you have two hours to kill, want a spy thriller, and don’t particularly care about missed potential. Skip it if you’re looking for a film that goes beyond the basics.
6.3 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 6.5 for an intricate spy plot that is hurt by lack of a clear destination and ambiguous morality.