The November Man is a 2014 American action spy thriller film based on the novel There Are No Spies by Bill Granger, which is canonically the seventh installment in The November Man novel series, published in 1987. It stars Pierce Brosnan, Luke Bracey, and Olga Kurylenko with the screenplay written by Michael Finch and Karl Gajdusek. The film is directed by Roger Donaldson, who previously worked with Brosnan in Dante's Peak. Beau St. Clair once again teams up with Brosnan to co-produce the film.
Plot
Veteran CIA officer Peter Devereaux retires from the agency in 2008 after his partner and protege David Mason disobeys Devereaux's orders not to fire on an assassin, accidentally killing a child during a mission to protect a US Ambassador in Montenegro. Devereaux retires to Switzerland and opens up a coffee shop.
Devereaux's former boss, John Hanley, seeks him out and recruits him to extract a deep cover CIA operative from Russia, Natalia Ulanova. Ulanova has been posing as the aide of presidential candidate and former Russian Army General Arkady Fedorov and knows the name of a witness who can tie Fedorov to war crimes. Hanley says Natalia will not turn over the name unless she is brought in and wants Peter's help getting out of Russia. Hanley also tells Peter that Fedorov's personal assassin Alexa has been assigned to murder all of Fedorov's former associates who have knowledge of his past crimes.
Unbeknownst to Devereaux, Mason's own team is dispatched to extract Natalia as well, with CIA station chief Perry Weinstein (Will Patton) in charge of the operation. Mason's team is likewise unaware of Hanley's actions.
Natalia manages to break into Fedorov's personal safe, copying several photos depicting a disheveled young girl and a younger Fedorov. Natalia manages to escape and contacts Mason's team to ready her for extraction. However, Fedorov notices that his personal key is still in the safe and alerts the FSB, who chase her through the streets of Moscow until Peter arrives and rescues Natalia. Natalia, though surprised to see Peter, gives him a name, Mira Filipova, which Peter relays to Hanley.
Mason's team doesn't realize that Devereaux has Natalia and think she may have been captured by the Russians. Weinstein gives the order to kill Natalia despite Hanley's objections. Mason kills Natalia with a sniper rifle; Natalia hands Peter the cell phone containing the incriminating photos before she dies. Peter notices the CIA drone that had been following his car heading towards the parking garage where Mason fired from. He goes to the garage and quickly kills all of Mason's CIA team until he runs into Mason at gunpoint. Stunned, Mason and Devereaux walk away from each other.
Hanley looks up files on Mira Filipova, but a CIA strike team breaks into his house and subdues him. Weinstein debriefs Mason on his encounter with his former mentor, and shows him pictures of Devereaux and Natalia in a relationship, even though Devereaux told Mason in the past that spies should not have relationships because the significant other can be used as leverage against them. Langley has ordered Devereaux killed, as not stopping him would mean more field agents being killed out of revenge.
Meanwhile, New York Times reporter Edgar Simpson tracks down refugee case worker Alice Fournier (Olga Kurylenko) and asks for her assistance in helping him write an expose of Fedorov and his alleged war crimes during the 2nd Chechen War. The assassin Alexa arrives in Belgrade, where a hacker contact notifies her that Alice will meet Edgar in a restaurant. Peter also arrives in Belgrade and knocks out the CIA strike team that secured Hanley's apartment. Peter discovers that Alice is Mira's contact and impersonates the CIA strike team to manipulate them into tracking Alice's phone.
Peter manages to rescue Alice from the assassin and Mason's CIA team. Alice says that Mira pretended to be mute around Fedorov, who had sexually abused her during the 2nd Chechen War. Mira is able to understand Russian since her parents are university professors and overheard every single conversation that Fedorov has had - including plans for a false flag conspiracy to bomb a building held by the Russian Army to justify the 2nd Chechen War and the seizure of Chechen oil fields. When Peter confronts Denisov, one of Fedorov's former associates, he confirms the conspiracy and says the CIA actively helped Fedorov.
Weinstein gives Mason additional motivation to kill Devereaux by showing Mason how Devereaux disparaged Mason's performance in reviews, recommending he be fired due to his impulsivity. Mason decides to go on a date with his next door neighbor Sarah (Eliza Taylor), and ends up sleeping with her. Unbeknownst to him, Devereaux and Alice have broken into the apartment across the street and are observing their departure and arrival. Devereaux sends off Alice with cash and disposable cell phones before breaking into Mason's apartment. Devereaux holds Sarah hostage and tests Mason's character by cutting her femoral artery before fleeing. Mason chooses to save Sarah, buying her time until an ambulance arrives.
Fedorov arrives in Belgrade for an energy conference, where he meets Alexa. Alexa kills Edgar at his home when Alice tries to meet with him, but Alice manages to escape. Peter infiltrates the CIA black site where Hanley is being held and confronts him about the CIA's involvement with Fedorov in Chechnya. Hanley claims Weinstein aided Fedorov. Hanley also states that Mira's parents were university professors that taught her to speak Russian, revealing that Alice Fournier is actually Mira Filipova. Mason later realizes that the real Alice Fournier died years ago and Mira took her identity.
Alice disguises herself as a prostitute and goes to Fedorov's hotel to try and kill him, as he murdered both of her parents before abducting and abusing her. Peter manages to track her down, kills Fedorov's security, and plays Russian Roulette with Fedorov on camera to make him give the name of the CIA agent who conspired with him. Fedorov states it was Hanley, which Alice confirms after seeing him in a photo. Peter and Alice escape the hotel, but not before Peter kills more of Mason's CIA team and knocking out Mason himself, giving him the recorded confession before leaving. However, when Mason and fellow operative Celia try and confront Weinstein with the evidence against Hanley, they find Hanley has replaced Weinstein. Langley has decided that Federov is worth keeping around despite his war crimes and is allowing Hanley to run the show.
Thinking his mission is over, Peter tells Alice to disappear before trying to call his daughter Lucy. However, Peter finds out that Hanley has ordered Mason to kidnap Lucy. Alice offers to give herself up for Lucy but Peter convinces her to go to a train station and wait for him there. Alice sits at a computer terminal and emails the editor of the New York Times with her story of Fedorov's war crimes, co-crediting Edgar with the story. Alexa manages to track Alice to her computer terminal, but Alice manages to knock Alexa out with a large shovel after a brief chase.
Peter meets with Hanley and Mason's men and gives Mason a bogus bus station address to send him on a wild goose chase. Hanley then unravels his true motives for his involvement in the apartment bombings, Hanley tells Peter that once Fedorov has won the presidential elections, he intends to blackmail the Russian president with his involvement in the false flag attacks, and force him into making Russia join NATO. This would not only effectively eliminate any competition to US hegemony in the western hemisphere, but also unite the west and the former Eastern Bloc for, what Hanley believes, "the next up-coming war with the Middle-East". However, Mason and Celia trace the phone call from Lucy and her kidnappers, and David quickly kills the kidnappers and rescues Lucy. Mason returns to Hanley and Peter without Alice, and Mason and Devereaux kill the rest of Hanley's men before holding Hanley at gunpoint. Peter thanks his former protege and escapes with his daughter to the train station where Alice is waiting for them.
Later, Alice testifies at the International Criminal Court about Fedorov's war crimes and conspiracy with Hanley, sinking Fedorov's campaign. He is later shot in the head by a sniper while relaxing on his yacht.
Cast
- Pierce Brosnan as Peter Devereaux ("The November Man")
- Luke Bracey as David Mason
- Olga Kurylenko as Alice Fournier/Mira Filipova
- Eliza Taylor as Sarah
- Caterina Scorsone as Celia
- Bill Smitrovich as John Hanley
- Will Patton as Perry Weinstein
- Amila Terzimehić as Alexa
- Lazar Ristovski as President Arkady Federov
- Mediha Musliovic as Natalia Ulanova
- Akie Kotabe as Meyers
- Patrick Kennedy as Edgar Simpson
- Dragan Marinkovic as Denisov
- Ben Willens as Agent Jones
Production
Development
When Pierce Brosnan was retired from playing the role of James Bond in 2005, it was reported that along with his business partner, Beau St. Clair, through their Irish DreamTime production company, he will be producing a down-to-earth spy thriller based on Bill Granger's book series called "The November Man", focusing on one particular novel in the series titled There Are No Spies, with shooting scheduled to begin in 2006. The project, however, ended up either being cancelled or was put on hold in 2007, as there were no news or any sign of an action coming out of that direction. Still, Brosnan decided to keep the screen rights to the novel which would permit him to produce the film adaptation of the book.
Pre-production
Eventually, in 2012, it was reported that Brosnan had the project resurrected and was put back on the trail with Dominic Cooper reportedly joining the production shortly after its announcement. In April 2013, whilst promoting his latest romantic comedy, Love Is All You Need, Brosnan told the media: "I am about to go off to Serbia and do my own spy movie. Finally I have the director I want in Roger Donaldson and we’re gonna do a piece called November Man so I shall jump back into that arena".
Casting
Brosnan revealed that Olga Kurylenko, who had a leading role in Quantum of Solace and the recent Oblivion, would co-star alongside him, commenting "I think there’s another room on the stage for another spy! Daniel [Craig] can’t have it all to himself. My co-star is a lovely actress called Olga Kurylenko, who seems to be going through leading men like hot dinners. She started with Daniel Craig and she’s gonna end up with Brosnan! She’s a gorgeous actress, beautiful woman. She’s in and it’s the older spy, younger spy". A month later, it was announced that shooting on the film would begin on 20 May 2013, with Luke Bracey and Bill Smitrovich joining the cast. Dominic Cooper, however, left the project to star in Need For Speed, and was replaced with Bracey in the role of the main antagonist. In June 2013, it was reported that Will Patton and Caterina Scorsone joined the cast, the former will be playing an old-school senior CIA operative while the latter is being described as "ambitious up-and-comer".
Filming
Principal photography began on May 20, 2013 in Belgrade, with Brosnan, Bracey, and many other supporting actors seen on site, but nothing particularly came out of the regular photographers and journalists, because it was moved away from public eye, and the sets were closed down for filming, guarded by tight security who wouldn't allow anyone unauthorized to get into the set. In the original novel, Berlin was the main setting, but Brosnan stated that the production couldn't afford shooting there. Meanwhile, the second unit production team are shooting the additional scenes and stunts in Montenegro. Olga Kurylenko has joined the filming on June 2, 2013, and Brosnan was seen engaging in a firefight performance between goons during an action sequence. In late July 2013, cameras have finally rolled off, as shooting on the film was finally completed. In September 2013, the film entered in post-production status.
Music
On December 3, 2013, it was announced that Marco Beltrami would be composing the soundtrack for the film.
Release
The film was released on August 27, 2014. On June 6, 2014, the first trailer for the film was released worldwide.
Marketing
The seventh novel in the original book series, There Are No Spies, was republished as The November Man to promote the film.
Reception
The November Man received negative reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently has a rating of 35%, based on 115 reviews, with an average rating of 4.7/10. The site's consensus reads: "The November Man has a few of the ingredients necessary for a better-than-average spy thriller, making it all the more disappointing that it falls back on dull genre clichés." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 38 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".
Sequel
On June 12, 2014, it was revealed that Sriram Das' production company, Das Films, have commissioned a sequel to the film. On August 20, while on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Brosnan officially announced that a sequel is in progress, and Relativity Media will soon be entering pre-production.
Historical significance
Even though the film is fiction, in reality, the former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko accused the Russian FSB of being behind the Moscow apartment bombing which was the pretext to the Second Chechen War. Recent revelations have shown that Alexander Litvinenko, the former KGB agent was also an agent of British and Spanish intelligence. Another source revealing Alexander Litvinenko was an MI-6 agent was featured in a recent documentary on the history of MI6 called The Secrets of Her Majesty's Secret Service which was broadcast in the UK on Yesterday and in the US on PBS.
References
External links
- Official website
- The November Man at the Internet Movie Database
- The November Man's channel on YouTube
- The November Man at Box Office Mojo
