The November Man (2014)

Plot summary (story synopsis): Devereaux (Pierce Brosnan) quits the CIA after an operation with rookie Mason (Luke Bracey) goes bad and an innocent child gets killed.

Five years later, Devereaux's ex-boss Hanley (Bill Smitrovich) tracks him down to his Swiss retirement cafe. Hanley tempts Devereaux back to work, saying that an old friend needs his help.

Devereaux agrees, but things go bad and Mason end's up killing Devereaux's friend. An enraged Devereaux starts to hunt down the members of Mason's CIA team.

At the same time, Devereaux tries to complete his friend's mission and bring crooked Russian politician Arkady Federov (Lazar Ristovski) to justice for war crimes. This leads him to aid-worker Alice (Olga Kurylenko) and they are now hunted by the CIA and the Russians.

***

The November Man is an enjoyable, fast-paced spy thriller. It doesn't break any new ground but it has the advantage of being based on a novel - Bill Granger's relatively unknown "There Are No Spies." This means that compared to your average spy movie, The November Man is above-average in terms of plot complexity and character development. Most importanly, Brosnan doesn't sing.

Director Roger Donaldson (The Recruit, Thirteen Days, Dante's Peak, Species) keeps the pacing fast - always a good thing. The run, run, chase, chase style is reminiscent of a Roland Emmerich movie. Devereaux and Alice are always on the move, unlike too many movies where the heroes spend too much time in the bat cave.

The movie's opening (and trailer) makes it look like this is going to be a student versus master movie, ala The Recruit (Colin Farrell versus Al Pacino). But this is Pierce Brosnan's show. Mason is quickly sidelined and the movie turns conventional with bad-ass Devereaux playing Jason Bourne with eye-candy Alice in tow.

Considering Pierce Brosnan's past roles as James Bond, the question people will be asking is - How does the movie compare with the Bond movies? Quite well, especially considering that the budget is only $15 million. Brosnan doesn't try to play Bond here, coming across as a more human and sympathetic spy.

There are two main twists in the plot, both of which do work but teeter on the edge of being obligatory. There is some subtle foreshadowing of the twists, so if you're paying attention you'll be rewarded with the satisfaction of guessing correctly.

Brosnan is one of the producers of the movie, and a sequel has already been announced. It looks like Brosnan has better luck starting a new book-based movie franchise with November Man, compared to Tom Cruise's attempt with Jack Reacher.