Dearest Blog, thanks to an early dismissal by my generous employer, I was able to get out to the movies yesterday afternoon. On my agenda, Pierce Brosnan's poor man's Bond, The November Man.
A retired CIA operative returns to action and finds himself pitted against his former pupil.
Well, dear reader(s), I think The November Man may be the most unbelievable movie I've seen all summer, and that includes the one with the gun-toting raccoon. Comparisons to the Bond franchise are inevitable, especially with Brosnan in the lead, but, for me, there's always a wink-wink, nudge-nudge aspect to James Bond movies. Sure...the guy is impossibly slick and has impossibly advanced tools and impossibly beautiful women, and gets himself into and out of impossibly impossible situations, but the movies seem self-aware. This one could have used a bit of self awareness, but that's not to say I didn't enjoy it.
Brosnan is still quite the dashing heartthrob. He's 61 now, so of course Hollywood has to offer some young meat in the form of one Luke Bracey, of whom I'd never heard until a trailer for The Best of Me ran immediately prior to November Man. I'd no more than thought, "Bet that dude is cornering the market on 'hot guy' roles," and...viola! Brosnan and Bracey have zero chemistry onscreen, and I wasn't buying the years of history between them for one minute. (Note: I mean "chemistry" in a non-romantic sense, although they don't make a very nice couple, either. I'd rather Pierce Brosnan and Andrew Garfield, myself.) Brosnan fares better with female lead Olga Kurylenko, but only just.
Mostly I think the writing is so flat that there's not much any actors could have done with it, but, again...that's not to say I didn't enjoy it.
The November Man is action packed, and no tip-toeing around trying to secure a PG13 rating either.
The series of events that keeps this movie going is about as remarkable as Gravity (a.k.a. "Murphy's Law"), but the movie is fun and not overlong, so it's not hard to forgive its other shortcomings.
The November Man runs 108 minutes and is rated R for "strong violence including a sexual assault, language, sexuality/nudity, and brief drug use." It's not a movie that'll change your life or that you'll remember forever, but for a late-August holiday weekend...eh...I'm alright with that.
Of a possible nine Weasleys, The November Man gets six.
Until next time...
