Pierce Brosnan returns to the spy business with 'The November Man'
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Molly Driscoll Staff writer
As movie-going audiences know, the new film 鈥淭he November Man鈥� isn鈥檛 the first time actor Pierce Brosnan has played a character engaging in espionage.
Brosnan, who famously played British superspy James Bond in such films as the 1995 movie 鈥淕oldeneye鈥� and the 2002 film 鈥淒ie Another Day,鈥� portrays a slightly darker take on the spy character in the film 鈥淭he November Man,鈥� which opened on Aug. 27. Brosnan plays Peter Devereaux, a former CIA employee who takes on a job in Russia.
Besides appearing in 鈥淏ond鈥� films, the actor also starred in such films as the 1999 movie 鈥淭he Thomas Crown Affair,鈥� the 2010 film 鈥淭he Ghost Writer,鈥� and the 2013 comedy 鈥淭he World鈥檚 End.鈥澛�
Brosnan told the 聽that a few days before "November" was set to start shooting, he began to think about the amount of action scenes the film would involve.
鈥淚 thought, 'Is this a good idea?'" he said. "[But] I can still run in a straight line and I can still throw a punch.鈥澛�
The actor noted that he will always be linked with his role as James Bond and said that when actor Daniel Craig was brought in to play the part, 鈥渋t was a mighty blow to take,鈥� but that he was impressed after watching the 2012 movie 鈥淪kyfall.鈥� 鈥淭hey got the right man for the next chapter of Bond's history,鈥� he said.聽
Meanwhile, critics are less than enamored with 鈥淣ovember,鈥� which currently holds a score of 38 out of 100 on the review aggregator website . John DeFore of the enjoyed Brosnan鈥檚 performance, writing that the film 鈥溾�媑iv[es]鈥� Brosnan the opportunity to prove his cool remains intact" and wrote that "the film's cat-and-mouse scenes... [are] enjoyable and only occasionally ridiculous," though he found that "Michael Finch and Karl Gajdusek's script does little to disguise the fact that we've seen and heard all of this many, many times since.鈥�
Meanwhile, critic Jason Clark gave it a C, calling Brosnan鈥檚 performance 鈥渁ction-thriller paycheck-coaster鈥� and writing that 鈥渙nce in a while, there's a certain drive-in/double feature junkiness that elicits a chuckle or two鈥� but the utter lack of originality eventually sinks the movie.鈥� And Alonso Duralde of found 鈥渋ts first third [to be] a perfectly serviceable spy thriller" but "the characters in the film feel so flimsy and familiar鈥� This is the sort of film where the plot and even the action become so uninteresting that you start asking plausibility questions.鈥�
