I wonder if Pierce Brosnan had to read the script fourteen times before deciding to make The November Man. Because it’s kind of convoluted. Brosnan plays Devereaux, a top notch CIA agent that quits the business after his protege’, Mason, screws up a mission. He gets brought back in by best friend and ex-boss, Hanley, to protect his current CIA lover who has secrets on a Russian politician. That’s two sentences and already I’ve mentioned five characters. But not all is as it seems. It’s a spy movie… of course not all is as it seems.  We obviously have to have Devereaux pitted against protege Mason in a duel. Cause you know, student vs. teacher. But it doesn’t stop there. Of course not. This is a modern spy movie.

I wish I were that cool.

That twist you didn’t see coming is going to be twisted again. And then twisted again. And then again. Enough times that the logic becomes unrecognizable beneath the contortions. Like how Devereaux plans to get Mason on his side by attacking and possibly killing Mason’s girlfriend. I still don’t understand that one. And by the time the final twist comes, it’s all gotten kind of stupid with weird, right angle character personality shifts that seem better placed in old school Flash Gordon serials.

But you know what? I don’t care. I love me some Pierce Brosnan. I used to watch Remington Steele on television and just marvel at this most suave and classy of guys. When he became James Bond, I was like “the suavest guy ever just got the perfect role.” So when I found out he was starring in a new action movie, I was all about it. Pierce Brosnan can cook eggs on film and it will look like the coolest guy ever is cooking eggs. He oozes spy credentials. And in The November Man we get to see him go through the full range of emotions: hard nosed killer, angry murderer, victimized assassin, and emotionally detached CIA operative.

There’s a bizarre scene where Devereaux goes all mental. Swilling booze, he holds Mason’s date at gun point and screams a bunch of drunken angry craziness to teach Mason a lesson in caring about people. Cause nothing teaches you to care about people like a drunk, angry, crazy man telling you to care about people… just before he attacks an innocent girl. In this movie, Devereaux has lost a lot and wants to send a strong message to everyone involved that he intends to fix them and how.

Even the stunt double is in charge.

There’s more plotting about a Chechen War refugee that needs protection but at this point the story is less important than what the movie does well. Devereaux gets saddled protecting a female social worker named Alice and smartly she doesn’t slow him down. Instead of playing the odd couple storyline, he just pulls her around on his crazy revenge trip. And when she does something dumb, like go after some spies herself, he’s there to be the real badass in the room.
To that end, The November Man really gets tension right. You never quite know what is going on, but Devereaux is always on edge. He and his targets are always one step away from being killed. There’s an underlying sense of dread as Mason keeps chasing Devereaux down and contract killer Alexa keeps zeroing in on Alice’s whereabouts.

Then there’s the action itself. Nobody messes around. I’m not exactly sure why the CIA keeps having Mason head up their teams just to have Devereaux outsmart everybody, but I’m being picky – the movie doesn’t make sense. However, Devereaux taking instant revenge on the van full of CIA operatives that kill his friend makes total sense. The director’s framing of the image telegraphs Devereaux’s appearance but it doesn’t change the vicious thrill of watching him dispassionately take everyone out. Or another scene – a nice cat and mouse where he lures Mason and goons into a parking lot where he’s constructed a makeshift bomb. It shows how immediately efficient the action plans to be. The villains are always about to catch up, the protagonist is decently unhinged, and the violence is quick and dirty.

And suave. Cause Pierce Brosnan can’t help himself.

I can drive, kill, and look suave simultaneously.

This movie delivers what you probably want in a package of not quite sensible story lines. It’s edgy enough to make you try to figure things out but strangely complicated enough to feel a little like work instead enjoyment. However I came for the fights, the action, the hope for a not-terrible script (it delivers) and the smoothest actor around.

At 108 minutes it feels a little like 120 just because there’s so much twisting to get through. Still, I got what I came for.