3.5 stars. Rated R, for violence, rape, profanity, sexuality and brief drug use
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 8.29.14
I always enjoy a well-crafted spy
thriller, and this one’s a romp.
Australian director Roger
Donaldson knows the territory, having delivered a twisty espionage thriller
back in 1987, with his adaptation of Kenneth Fearing’s No Way Out. It remains
one of star Kevin Costner’s best early films, thanks in great part to its
didn’t-see-that-coming finale.
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| Devereaux (Pierce Brosnan, left) delights in setting up fight-or-flight "scenarios" for junior partner Mason (Luke Bracey), which the latter finds a bit tiresome. And insulting. Which rather misses the point, because the cocky Mason definitely needs to enhance his ability to analyze a situation before it whirls out of control. |
Donaldson’s handling of The
November Man is cut from similar cloth, with scripters Michael Finch and Karl
Gajdusek delivering an engaging spin on a cherry-picked entry in the late journalist-turned-novelist
Bill Granger’s 13-book Devereaux series, which began with 1979’s The November
Man and concluded with 1993’s Burning the Apostle. This film’s title
notwithstanding, however, it’s based not on Granger’s first Deveraux book, but
on the seventh, There Are No Spies.
That said, Finch and Gajdusek’s screenplay
more honestly is “flavored” by Granger’s book, with numerous changes obviously
intended to satisfy action-oriented audiences. The result is reasonably
entertaining in a fast-paced “airplane movie” sort of way, with star Pierce
Brosnan ideally cast as a cynical, world-weary spy dragged out of
semi-retirement to fix another mess involving the CIA, a corrupt Russian
presidential candidate, a lethal assassin, and a possible traitor within the
CIA’s highest echelons.
Although obviously aiming for the
cerebral atmosphere of 1960s cold-war movie classics such as The Ipcress File and The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, Donaldson doesn’t hit that target too
often; he more frequently mines the who-can-be-trusted territory of 1975’s Three Days of the Condor, with a strong nod toward the mentor/protégé
relationship at the heart of 2001’s Spy Game.
And heck, we’ve got a cast that
include a former James Bond (Brosnan) and a former Bond babe (Olga Kurylenko,
from Quantum of Solace). How can it miss?
Mostly, it doesn’t. With a few
stiff caveats.
Devereaux and junior partner
David Mason (Australian up-and-comer Luke Bracey) are introduced in a 2008
prologue, working a mission that goes pear-shaped when the younger operative
fails to heed his mentor’s stern instructions. The anguish and disappointment
are clear on Devereaux’s face; the kid has blown it, obviously dashing the
older agent’s faith in him.
