Fans love to debate who was the best James Bond, despite the fact that there is clearly no question: it's Daniel Craig. I'll tell you who definitely wasn't the best: Pierce Brosnan. Maybe it was more the fault of bad writing than bad acting, but his Bond films were puerile and forgettable. I just watched a couple recently, and I can't remember a thing about them. This is all the more surprising because, before he started playing Bond, everyone agreed that he would be perfect for the role. Back when Brosnan was stuck in his “Remington Steele” contract and couldn't take the Bond role, everyone thought it was such a shame, because, really, the guy seemed like he was designed on a computer to play 007. Once he finally got the chance, the movies were just meh.
With “The November Man,” Brosnan takes another stab at a spy franchise. There are 14 novels in Bill Granger's spy series, published from 1979-1993, the first of which is titled The November Man. This film, however, is based on the 7th book in the series, originally titled There Are No Spies. After the movie came out, they started printing the 7th book with the title The November Man. I have no idea how they expect book buyers to keep all that straight. Anyway, the series features CIA agent Peter Devereaux, code-named “November Man,” because after he comes through, nothing is left alive.
The movie finds Devereaux retired, living a quiet, pleasant life, when his old CIA friend, Hanley, shows up to ask a favor. A Russian double agent is ready to defect, with a key piece of information on a Soviet politician who is in line to be their next president. The Russian agent was once Devereaux's lover, so he agrees to come out of retirement to help her cross over. The job goes sour (of course), and Devereaux finds himself trying to protect a gorgeous social worker (Olga Kurylenko) from a rogue CIA boss and a beautiful, Russian assassin.
It would be faint praise to declare “The November Man” as good as any of Brosnan's Bond movies. In some ways, it is better. The movie doesn't have any of the one-liners or arched eyebrows that got so tiresome in the Bond series, and the older, grizzled Pierce Brosnan is way more interesting than the late-90's, pretty-boy Bond version. And then there's Olga Kurylenko, who played a Bond girl opposite Daniel Craig in "Quantum of Solace." The Ukrainian model/actress may not have the broadest acting range, but she is so damn gorgeous that it doesn't matter.
That's not to say that this is a great movie, or even a great spy movie. The supporting cast is weak, including the wooden Luke Bracey as Devereaux's protege and Bill Smitrovich, who hams up the Hanley character as if he were in a completely different movie from everyone else here. This is the kind of movie that you would be pretty disappointed in if you paid to see it in a cinema. For a Netflix movie to watch while working out, though, it's not bad.
2.5 stars out of 5
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