Of all of the overly confusing movies I have seen in my life, this one is the most unique out of all of them. All of the other films I have seen were confusing because too much was forced into it and or the story was made overly complex. This film, on the other hand, is confusing because of how little anything is explained or makes sense.
Starting off with a past mission, Agents Devereaux (Pierce Brosnan) and Mason (Luke Bracey) are assigned to stop the assassination of an ambassador. Devereaux orders Mason not to do anything do to the assassin's position, but Mason kills the assassin, resulting in a civilian also being killed. This opening served no purpose as we barely learn anything about the characters and it doesn't serve any purpose to later events in the film.
Cut to several years later, Devereaux is asked by his friend Hanley (Bill Smitrovich) to go on a mission to extract an agent who has information on a Russian politician (Lazar Ristovski) who is running for president. The agent, Natalia (Mediha Musliovic), happens to be the mother of Devereaux's daughter. Devereaux attempts to extract her, but she is shot and killed by Mason under orders from Perry Weinstein (Bill Patton). Natalia manages to give Devereaux her phone with pictures that would incriminate the politician. Instead of turning the pictures over to the C.I.A, whom Mason is an agent for, Devereaux goes not only after Mason because he wants to kill him, but a woman named Alice (Olga Kurylenko) as well because she might know where a person is who knows inside information regarding the politician. Joining in on the hunt for Alice is Weinstein's C.I.A group, including Mason, and a hired assassin (Amila Terzimehic).
Starting right here is when the movie starts to become complete confusion. Devereaux wants to protect Alice to keep everyone from reaching the girl, Mira, who would know about the politician. However, he doesn't give the incriminating pictures to anyone or post them online to show what the politician did.
At the same time, Devereaux wants to kill Mason, for some reason. He acts as if it is because he views Mason as a murderer, but if that were the real case Devereaux would have killed Mason right after Mason killed Natalia when he had the chance to. Plus, he was following orders to kill Natalia, but Devereaux is blaming him for the killing and then nearly kills Mason's sudden girlfriend Sarah (Eliza Taylor) to teach him a lesson. Devereaux's motivations throughout the entire movie make no sense, and we are supposed to understand and sympathize with him.
It is revealed that Hanley was working with the politician the whole time. The reveal that Hanley and the politician are working together also leads to the reveal that Hanley has been controlling the politician the whole time and is planning on using him when he's president. However, their plan or even their actions in the present are not what makes them the villains of the movie. They are the villains because they did some bad things over a decade ago, so there is no real urgency to any of it. Their present plans are not evil, so there is no real rush to stop them.
Remember how I said barely anything was revealed in the opening of the movie, well, here's what was revealed. Other than the fact that Devereaux says Mason can't follow orders, we learn that Mason is looking for a partner to have in his life. What does that lead to? A pointless subplot involving Mason and his neighbor Sarah. They introduce themselves to one another, they go out on a date, Devereaux injures her as revenge, and she goes to the hospital. And that's the last we see of her. She doesn't show up at the end with Mason somewhere. She just disappears from the story.
Another character who just disappears from the story is Edgar Simpson (Patrick Kennedy), a reporter for the New York Times who is doing a report on the Russian politician. He shows up to ask Alice some questions about what she knows about the politician and where he can find Mira. Alice goes to his house later on and he is killed. What was the point of his character? Nothing. He was just thrown in and made the whole story more confusing.
How is it as an action spy thriller? Terrible. Are there some decent fights and action sequences in it. Sure, but those few moments are ruined by the fact that you have no idea what is going on in the plot, so you have no idea what the point of the action scene is.
"The November Man" might be the most confusing movie I have ever seen in my life. The majority of the character's motivations make little sense, the villain's plan isn't even villainous or hold much weight to the final effect of the film, the characters are underdeveloped, and the entire thing is just convoluted. I remember when I saw "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit" that I said the evil plan was convoluted. Well, compared to this movie that plan is pretty straight forward, and at least that plan held weight to it. Like I said, there were a few decent action sequences in there, but they aren't worth sitting through the whole movie to see.
Starting off with a past mission, Agents Devereaux (Pierce Brosnan) and Mason (Luke Bracey) are assigned to stop the assassination of an ambassador. Devereaux orders Mason not to do anything do to the assassin's position, but Mason kills the assassin, resulting in a civilian also being killed. This opening served no purpose as we barely learn anything about the characters and it doesn't serve any purpose to later events in the film.
Cut to several years later, Devereaux is asked by his friend Hanley (Bill Smitrovich) to go on a mission to extract an agent who has information on a Russian politician (Lazar Ristovski) who is running for president. The agent, Natalia (Mediha Musliovic), happens to be the mother of Devereaux's daughter. Devereaux attempts to extract her, but she is shot and killed by Mason under orders from Perry Weinstein (Bill Patton). Natalia manages to give Devereaux her phone with pictures that would incriminate the politician. Instead of turning the pictures over to the C.I.A, whom Mason is an agent for, Devereaux goes not only after Mason because he wants to kill him, but a woman named Alice (Olga Kurylenko) as well because she might know where a person is who knows inside information regarding the politician. Joining in on the hunt for Alice is Weinstein's C.I.A group, including Mason, and a hired assassin (Amila Terzimehic).
Starting right here is when the movie starts to become complete confusion. Devereaux wants to protect Alice to keep everyone from reaching the girl, Mira, who would know about the politician. However, he doesn't give the incriminating pictures to anyone or post them online to show what the politician did.
At the same time, Devereaux wants to kill Mason, for some reason. He acts as if it is because he views Mason as a murderer, but if that were the real case Devereaux would have killed Mason right after Mason killed Natalia when he had the chance to. Plus, he was following orders to kill Natalia, but Devereaux is blaming him for the killing and then nearly kills Mason's sudden girlfriend Sarah (Eliza Taylor) to teach him a lesson. Devereaux's motivations throughout the entire movie make no sense, and we are supposed to understand and sympathize with him.
It is revealed that Hanley was working with the politician the whole time. The reveal that Hanley and the politician are working together also leads to the reveal that Hanley has been controlling the politician the whole time and is planning on using him when he's president. However, their plan or even their actions in the present are not what makes them the villains of the movie. They are the villains because they did some bad things over a decade ago, so there is no real urgency to any of it. Their present plans are not evil, so there is no real rush to stop them.
Remember how I said barely anything was revealed in the opening of the movie, well, here's what was revealed. Other than the fact that Devereaux says Mason can't follow orders, we learn that Mason is looking for a partner to have in his life. What does that lead to? A pointless subplot involving Mason and his neighbor Sarah. They introduce themselves to one another, they go out on a date, Devereaux injures her as revenge, and she goes to the hospital. And that's the last we see of her. She doesn't show up at the end with Mason somewhere. She just disappears from the story.
Another character who just disappears from the story is Edgar Simpson (Patrick Kennedy), a reporter for the New York Times who is doing a report on the Russian politician. He shows up to ask Alice some questions about what she knows about the politician and where he can find Mira. Alice goes to his house later on and he is killed. What was the point of his character? Nothing. He was just thrown in and made the whole story more confusing.
How is it as an action spy thriller? Terrible. Are there some decent fights and action sequences in it. Sure, but those few moments are ruined by the fact that you have no idea what is going on in the plot, so you have no idea what the point of the action scene is.
"The November Man" might be the most confusing movie I have ever seen in my life. The majority of the character's motivations make little sense, the villain's plan isn't even villainous or hold much weight to the final effect of the film, the characters are underdeveloped, and the entire thing is just convoluted. I remember when I saw "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit" that I said the evil plan was convoluted. Well, compared to this movie that plan is pretty straight forward, and at least that plan held weight to it. Like I said, there were a few decent action sequences in there, but they aren't worth sitting through the whole movie to see.