November Man seemed as if it was going to be an awesome throwback to the Pierce Brosnan days of Bond, his Never Say Never Again almost. Unfortunately, it doesn't amount to anything but an incoherent mess of a film. The storyline is very typical, almost so typical that you keep wondering if you missed something or it is merely just that brainless and redundant? The answer is yes, The November Man is a film that takes what could have been a grand throwback to the espionage thrillers of yester-year and turns it into a brainless big budget fan film hybrid cross between John Woo and a 90s James Bond. The director, Roger Donaldson feels sluggish here. It feels as if he knew the film was bad and tried everything to get it to work but it, unfortunately never comes to flotation. The editing is sloppy, the action sequence get considerably ridiculous especially with its use of slow motion, which adds another corny and campy vibe to an already far-fetched story that takes itself way too seriously. Despite these faults, The November Man does showcase a very good performance from Pierce Brosnan. While the story does lack an intellectual plot to make this intriguing enough, Pierce Brosnan carries the film on his shoulders and moves full speed ahead even when the film doesn't seem to be going much of anywhere. As far as an action film is concerned, the shootouts are somewhat decent in certain scenes but become increasingly annoying as they all start to blend together and feel boring. The violence in this film is actually something that did take me by surprise considering how brutal some of the scenes are. However, while some of the violence is shocking at first, Roger Donaldson decides to capitalize on the gore by throwing slow motion blood, bullets and brains to the mix for the final shootout, absolutely killing any shot of redemption for the film at that point. It may look cool but it contributes nothing at all except something for gore hounds to marvel at, maybe. Overall, The November Man features vintage Pierce Brosnan echoing back to Live Wire and Goldeneye but the film suffers from a narrative stand point and tries to cover up its lacking story with graphic violence and loud music.
Review of The November Man
